Automated network discovery for industrial controller systems

ABSTRACT

Controller devices may be configured to execute a network discovery service to identify other devices on a network, including other controller devices, user computing devices, and/or human machine interface devices. The controller devices may communicate with the devices on the network. An individual controller device may, upon connection to a human machine interface device, provide to the human machine interface device via a web server, a graphical user interface from which a user may configure the controller device or connect to another controller device on the network.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent ApplicationNo. 63/014,370, filed Apr. 23, 2020, and titled “AUTOMATED NETWORKDISCOVERY FOR INDUSTRIAL CONTROLLER SYSTEMS.” This application is also acontinuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/789,911,filed on Feb. 13, 2020, and titled “INDUSTRIAL CONTROLLER SYSTEM ANDINTERACTIVE GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACES RELATED THERETO”, whichapplication is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/557,867, filed Aug. 30, 2019, and titled “INDUSTRIAL CONTROLLERSYSTEM AND INTERACTIVE GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACES RELATED THERETO”, whichapplication claims benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No.62/823,920, filed Mar. 26, 2019, and titled “INDUSTRIAL CONTROLLERSYSTEM AND INTERACTIVE GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACES RELATED THERETO”. Theentire disclosure of each of the above items is hereby made part of thisspecification as if set forth fully herein and incorporated by referencefor all purposes, for all that it contains.

Any and all applications for which a foreign or domestic priority claimis identified in the Application Data Sheet as filed with the presentapplication are hereby incorporated by reference under 37 CFR 1.57 forall purposes and for all that they contain.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to industrial controllerdevices, sensors, systems, and methods that allow for system automationand data acquisition and processing. Embodiments of the presentdisclosure further relate to devices, systems, and methods that provideinteractive graphical user interfaces for interfacing with andconfiguring industrial controller devices, sensors, and systems.

BACKGROUND

The approaches described in this section are approaches that could bepursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previouslyconceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it shouldnot be assumed that any of the approaches described in this sectionqualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in thissection.

Industrial controller systems, such as standard industrial controlsystems (“ICS”) or programmable automation controllers (“PAC”), mayinclude various types of control equipment used in industrialproduction, such as supervisory control and data acquisition (“SCADA”)systems, distributed control systems (“DCS”), programmable logiccontrollers (“PLC”), and industrial safety systems. Such systems may beused in industries including electrical, water and wastewater, oil andgas production and refining, chemical, food, pharmaceuticals, robotics,and the like. Using information collected from various types of sensorsto measure process variables, automated and/or operator-drivensupervisory commands from the industrial controller system can betransmitted to various devices, e.g., actuator devices such as controlvalves, hydraulic actuators, magnetic actuators, electrical switches,motors, solenoids, and the like. These actuator devices collect datafrom sensors and sensor systems, open and close valves and breakers,regulate valves and motors, monitor the industrial process for alarmconditions, and so forth.

In general, configuration of industrial controller systems can be timeconsuming, and unfriendly or impossible for non-technical users. Forexample, configuration of individual controller devices may requiremanual interaction with the individual devices, updating firmware (e.g.,by inserting memory devices or wired computer interfaces at theindividual controller devices) or adjusting settings. Further, ingeneral, gathering data from individual controller devices can betime-consuming and laborious, rendering impossible any real-time or nearreal-time analyses of such data, including any analyses of data frommultiple controller devices. These limitations can make it particularlydifficult (or impossible for non-technical users) to deal withsituations where a controller device begins to fail, or needs to beupdated in view of changes, e.g., to a manufacturing line or process.

SUMMARY

The systems, methods, and devices described herein each have severalaspects, no single one of which is solely responsible for its desirableattributes. Without limiting the scope of this disclosure, severalnon-limiting features will now be described briefly.

Prior industrial control systems may include multiple layers oftechnology, each of which may be a different physical piece oftechnology. These layers may include device level measurement sensors,telemetry and control devices (e.g., programmable logic controllers(“PLC”) or remote terminal units (“RTU”)), connectivity technology(e.g., gateway devices and systems), “historian” devices (e.g.,databases and other data management devices), visibility and managementdevices (e.g., human machine interface (“HMI”) devices, manufacturingexecution systems (“MES”), and/or supervisory control and dataacquisition (“SCADA”) systems), and the like. These multiple layers ofdifferent technology devices may create significant complexity toimplementing, expanding, and updating such prior industrial controlsystems. For example, identification of and connection to one specificdevice may be challenging. Individual devices in such networks can beaccessed and controlled by HMI devices, but it can be costly toindividually pre-configure HMI devices to communicate with particulardevices specific to the network being accessed.

Advantageously, various embodiments of the present disclosure mayovercome various disadvantages of prior systems and methods. Forexample, aspects of the present disclosure include a system that grantsnetwork access to a wide range of possible devices, by various HMIdevices, without each HMI device being uniquely pre-configured for thenetwork. As further examples, embodiments of the present disclosure mayinclude industrial controller devices (also referred to herein as“controller devices”) that may include built-in wireless and/or wiredcommunications capabilities, data storage and offloading capabilities,rapid configuration capabilities, and/or additional device controlcapabilities. The controller devices may automatically establishcommunication with a remote management server. The controller devicesmay be remotely and centrally monitored and configured via themanagement server, e.g., via an interactive graphical user interfaceaccessible from a user computing device. The controller devices mayinclude configuration execution capabilities such that they may operateautonomously based on a current configuration. However, the controllerdevices may further include automatic offloading of received data to aremote database (e.g., via the management server). Such received datamay be useable by the management server for providing further analyses,insights, alerts, etc. to users via interactive graphical userinterfaces. The controller devices may provide remote access to liveoperational data via a web-server operating on the controller devices.Human machine interface devices may communicate with the controllerdevices via wired or wireless, direct or networked communications. Thecontroller devices may provide interactive graphical user interfaces tosuch human machine interface devices, enabling synchronization ofcontroller device status at multiple human machine interface devicesand/or other user devices. Thus, according to various embodiments of thepresent disclosure, the controller devices and the management server mayreplace and streamline the multiple layers of technology of priorsystems, while also providing added benefits and functionality overprior systems, and maintaining options for interfacing with and workingwith prior systems (e.g., existing sensors, PLCs, etc.).

Advantageously, according to various embodiments, the present disclosuremay provide a modern platform that may combine data collection, control,alerts, and analytics in an easy to deploy and easy to use system—fromthe plant floor to remote sites. Embodiments of the present disclosuremay enable management of controller devices from a secure clouddashboard. Embodiments of the present disclosure may provide controllerdevices that combine the local control and data collection capabilitiesof a programmable logic controller (“PLC”) or remote terminal unit(“RTU”), with a cellular gateway into a single device designed to meetthe harsh demands of various industrial environments, includingwater/wastewater, oil and gas, and the like. Embodiments of the presentdisclosure may enable out-of-the-box visibility of real-time andhistorical data, and simple alerting without the hassle of additionalsoftware or complexity that may be required in prior systems.

According to various embodiments, the present disclosure includes one ormore controller devices that include various configurable input andoutput ports (which may be configured based on one or morecommunications specifications and/or configurations of the controllerdevices), e.g., for interacting with and communicating with variousadditional systems and devices, e.g., associated with a manufacturingline or process. Data may be collected or received by the controllerdevices, and may optionally be processed or analyzed by the controllerdevice, based on a configuration of the controller device, e.g., togenerate outputs or controls related to various additional systems anddevices, e.g., associated with a manufacturing line or process. Thecontroller device may provide outputs in response to received dataand/or analysis of the received data, e.g., to stop or adjust themanufacturing line or process, take actions, cause sending of alerts,etc. The controller device may include on-device memory for storingreceived data and analyses. The controller device may further includeadditional aspects, including one or more web-servers, for communicatingwith other devices/systems.

In various embodiments, the controller devices may be configured toautomatically connect to a remote management server (e.g., a“cloud”-based management server), and may offload received and analysisdata to the remote management server via wired or wirelesscommunications. The controller devices may further communicate with themanagement server, user computing devices, and/or human machineinterface devices, e.g., to provide remote access to the controllerdevice, provide real-time information from the controller device,receive configurations/updates, provide interactive graphical userinterfaces, and/or the like.

In various embodiments, the management server may aggregate receiveddata and/or analysis data from one or more controller devices, andprovide statuses, alerts, analyses, etc., including via interactivegraphical user interfaces that may be accessed via user computingdevices. The management server may provide interactive graphical userinterfaces through which a user may configure one or more controllerdevices.

In various embodiments, human machine interface (“HMI”) devices maycommunicate with the controller devices, e.g., via accessing web-serversrunning on the controller devices that provide interactive graphicaluser interfaces to the human machine interface devices. Users maythereby configure and/or monitor status of the controller devices viathe human machine interface devices. Typically, the human machineinterface devices may communicate with the controller devices via alocal network (e.g., a network local to, or on-site at, a particularorganization).

In various embodiments, the controller devices may communicate withvarious additional devices, e.g., various components of a manufacturingline or process, sensors, etc. Such communications may be accomplishedvia one or more application programming interfaces (“APIs”).

Accordingly, in various embodiments, large amounts of data may beautomatically and dynamically gathered and analyzed in response to userinputs and configurations, and the analyzed data may be efficientlypresented to users. Thus, in some embodiments, the systems, devices,configuration capabilities, graphical user interfaces, and the likedescribed herein are more efficient as compared to previous systems,etc.

Further, as described herein, according to various embodiments systemsand/or devices may be configured and/or designed to generate graphicaluser interface data useable for rendering the various interactivegraphical user interfaces described. The graphical user interface datamay be used by various devices, systems, and/or software programs (forexample, a browser program), to render the interactive graphical userinterfaces. The interactive graphical user interfaces may be displayedon, for example, electronic displays (including, for example,touch-enabled displays).

Additionally, it has been noted that design of computer user interfaces“that are useable and easily learned by humans is a non-trivial problemfor software developers.” (Dillon, A. (2003) User Interface Design.MacMillan Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science, Vol. 4, London: MacMillan,453-458.) The present disclosure describes various embodiments ofinteractive and dynamic graphical user interfaces that are the result ofsignificant development. This non-trivial development has resulted inthe graphical user interfaces described herein which may providesignificant cognitive and ergonomic efficiencies and advantages overprevious systems. The interactive and dynamic graphical user interfacesinclude improved human-computer interactions that may provide reducedmental workloads, improved decision-making, improved capabilities,reduced work stress, and/or the like, for a user. For example, userinteraction with the interactive graphical user interface via the inputsdescribed herein may provide an optimized display of, and interactionwith, controller devices, and may enable a user to more quickly andaccurately access, navigate, assess, and digest analyses,configurations, received/operational data, and/or the like, thanprevious systems.

Further, the interactive and dynamic graphical user interfaces describedherein are enabled by innovations in efficient interactions between theuser interfaces and underlying systems and components. For example,disclosed herein are improved methods of receiving user inputs(including methods of interacting with, and selecting, received data),translation and delivery of those inputs to various system components(e.g., controller devices), automatic and dynamic execution of complexprocesses in response to the input delivery (e.g., execution ofconfigurations on controller devices), automatic interaction amongvarious components and processes of the system, and automatic anddynamic updating of the user interfaces (to, for example, display theinformation related to controller devices). The interactions andpresentation of data via the interactive graphical user interfacesdescribed herein may accordingly provide cognitive and ergonomicefficiencies and advantages over previous systems.

In various embodiments, the HMI devices include minimal softwareapplications that include a web browser and a network discovery service.Upon connection of a HMI device to a network, the HMI device detects anyother devices on the network and connects with a randomly selected firstdevice. In an implementation, the HMI device may specifically detectdevices of a certain type, or provided by a particular manufacturer, onthe network. Each of the detected devices on the network may beconfigured with a web server and a network discovery service. Thus, uponthe HMI device connecting to a device on the network, the device canprovide a web page to be rendered in the browser of the HMI device. Theweb page can include, for example, various controls and configurationsassociated with the device and, via the network discovery service of thedevice, indications of other devices on the network. A user of the HMIdevice may then control the device, or select a different device toconnect to and control that different device. The various devices on thenetwork, aside from the HMI devices, may further include functionalityto associate particular HMI devices (e.g., based on the HMI deviceserial numbers or other unique identifications) with particular devices,such that upon re-connection of an HMI device to the network, aninitially connected to device will automatically cause the HMI device toconnect to the associated device on the network.

Advantageously, aspects of such an embodiment shift the burden ofnetwork device detection and configuration from the HMI device to thenetwork devices (e.g., controller devices). Because the HMI device maynot need special processing or configuration capabilities, virtually anyuser interface display device can be used as an HMI device to access thenetwork and control or configure devices on the network.

Various embodiments of the present disclosure provide improvements tovarious technologies and technological fields, and practicalapplications of various technological features and advancements. Forexample, as described above, some existing systems are limited invarious ways, and various embodiments of the present disclosure providesignificant improvements over such systems, and practical applicationsof such improvements. Additionally, various embodiments of the presentdisclosure are inextricably tied to, and provide practical applicationsof, computer technology. In particular, various embodiments rely ondetection of user inputs via graphical user interfaces, operation andconfiguration of controller devices, calculation of updates to displayedelectronic data based on user inputs, automatic processing of receiveddata, and presentation of updates to displayed data and analyses viainteractive graphical user interfaces. Such features and others areintimately tied to, and enabled by, computer and industrial controllertechnology, and would not exist except for computer and industrialcontroller technology. For example, the industrial controllerfunctionality and interactions with displayed data described below inreference to various embodiments cannot reasonably be performed byhumans alone, without the computer and imaging technology upon whichthey are implemented. Further, the implementation of the variousembodiments of the present disclosure via computer technology enablesmany of the advantages described herein, including more efficientinteraction with, and presentation and analysis of, various types ofelectronic data, controller device operation and configuration, and thelike.

Various combinations of the above and below recited features,embodiments, and aspects are also disclosed and contemplated by thepresent disclosure.

Additional embodiments of the disclosure are described below inreference to the appended claims, which may serve as an additionalsummary of the disclosure.

In various embodiments, systems and/or computer systems are disclosedthat comprise a computer readable storage medium having programinstructions embodied therewith, and one or more processors configuredto execute the program instructions to cause the one or more processorsto perform operations comprising one or more aspects of the above-and/or below-described embodiments (including one or more aspects of theappended claims).

In various embodiments, computer-implemented methods are disclosed inwhich, by one or more processors executing program instructions, one ormore aspects of the above- and/or below-described embodiments (includingone or more aspects of the appended claims) are implemented and/orperformed.

In various embodiments, computer program products comprising a computerreadable storage medium are disclosed, wherein the computer readablestorage medium has program instructions embodied therewith, the programinstructions executable by one or more processors to cause the one ormore processors to perform operations comprising one or more aspects ofthe above- and/or below-described embodiments (including one or moreaspects of the appended claims).

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The following drawings and the associated descriptions are provided toillustrate embodiments of the present disclosure and do not limit thescope of the claims. Aspects and many of the attendant advantages ofthis disclosure will become more readily appreciated as the same becomebetter understood by reference to the following detailed description,when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of an example operating environmentin which one or more aspects of the present disclosure may operate,according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram including an example implementationof a management device, according to various embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of an example controller device,according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a diagram of an example physical implementation of acontroller device, according to various embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating example methods and functionality,according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIGS. 6A-6F illustrate example interactive graphical user interfacesrelated to analysis of data from controller devices, according tovarious embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIGS. 7A-7C illustrate example interactive graphical user interfacesrelated to controller device configuration, according to variousembodiments of the present disclosure.

FIGS. 8A-8D illustrate example interactive graphical user interfacesrelated to dashboard generation, according to various embodiments of thepresent disclosure.

FIGS. 9A-9C illustrate example interactive graphical user interfacesrelated to alert generation, according to various embodiments of thepresent disclosure.

FIGS. 10A-10C illustrate example interactive graphical user interfacesrelated to controller device configuration, according to variousembodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating example methods of configuringcontroller device operation via a human machine interface device,according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating example methods of connecting ahuman machine interface device to a controller device, according tovarious embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 13 illustrates an example interactive graphical user interfacerelated to network discovery, according to various embodiments of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 14 illustrates an example interactive graphical user interfacerelated to operation control of controller devices, according to variousembodiments of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Although certain preferred embodiments and examples are disclosed below,inventive subject matter extends beyond the specifically disclosedembodiments to other alternative embodiments and/or uses and tomodifications and equivalents thereof. Thus, the scope of the claimsappended hereto is not limited by any of the particular embodimentsdescribed below. For example, in any method or process disclosed herein,the acts or operations of the method or process may be performed in anysuitable sequence and are not necessarily limited to any particulardisclosed sequence. Various operations may be described as multiplediscrete operations in turn, in a manner that may be helpful inunderstanding certain embodiments; however, the order of descriptionshould not be construed to imply that these operations are orderdependent. Additionally, the structures, systems, and/or devicesdescribed herein may be embodied as integrated components or as separatecomponents. For purposes of comparing various embodiments, certainaspects and advantages of these embodiments are described. Notnecessarily all such aspects or advantages are achieved by anyparticular embodiment. Thus, for example, various embodiments may becarried out in a manner that achieves or optimizes one advantage orgroup of advantages as taught herein without necessarily achieving otheraspects or advantages as may also be taught or suggested herein.

I. Overview

As mentioned above, according to various embodiments, the presentdisclosure includes one or more controller devices that include variousconfigurable input and output ports (which may be configured based onone or more communications specifications and/or configurations of thecontroller devices), e.g., for interacting with and communicating withvarious additional systems and devices, e.g., associated with amanufacturing line or process. Data may be collected or received by thecontroller devices, and may optionally be processed or analyzed by thecontroller device, based on a configuration of the controller device,e.g., to generate outputs or controls related to various additionalsystems and devices, e.g., associated with a manufacturing line orprocess. The controller device may provide outputs in response toreceived data and/or analysis of the received data, e.g., to stop oradjust the manufacturing line or process, take actions, cause sending ofalerts, etc. The controller device may include on-device memory forstoring received data and analyses. The controller device may furtherinclude additional aspects, including one or more web-servers, forcommunicating with other devices/systems.

In various embodiments, the controller devices may be configured toautomatically connect to a remote management server (e.g., a“cloud”-based management server), and may offload received and analysisdata to the remote management server via wired or wirelesscommunications. The controller devices may further communicate with themanagement server, user computing devices, and/or human machineinterface devices, e.g., to provide remote access to the controllerdevice, provide real-time information from the controller device,receive configurations/updates, provide interactive graphical userinterfaces, and/or the like.

In various embodiments, the management server may aggregate receiveddata and/or analysis data from one or more controller devices, andprovide statuses, alerts, analyses, etc., including via interactivegraphical user interfaces that may be accessed via user computingdevices. The management server may provide interactive graphical userinterfaces through which a user may configure one or more controllerdevices.

In various embodiments, human machine interface (“HMI”) devices maycommunicate with the controller devices, e.g., via accessing web-serversrunning on the controller devices that provide interactive graphicaluser interfaces to the human machine interface devices. Users maythereby configure and/or monitor status of the controller devices viathe human machine interface devices. Typically, the human machineinterface devices may communicate with the controller devices via alocal network (e.g., a network local to, or on-site at, a particularorganization.

In various embodiments, the HMI devices include minimal softwareapplications that include a web browser and a network discovery service.Upon connection of a HMI device to a network, the HMI device detects anyother devices on the network and connects with a randomly selected firstdevice. In an implementation, the HMI device may specifically detectdevices of a certain type, or provided by a particular manufacturer, onthe network. Each of the detected devices on the network may beconfigured with a web server and a network discovery service. Thus, uponthe HMI device connecting to a device on the network, the device canprovide a web page to be rendered in the browser of the HMI device. Theweb page can include, for example, various controls and configurationsassociated with the device and, via the network discovery service of thedevice, indications of other devices on the network. A user of the HMIdevice may then control the device, or select a different device toconnect to and control that different device. The various devices on thenetwork, aside from the HMI devices, may further include functionalityto associate particular HMI devices (e.g., based on the HMI deviceserial numbers or other unique identifications) with particular devices,such that upon re-connection of an HMI device to the network, aninitially connected to device will automatically cause the HMI device toconnect to the associated device on the network.

Advantageously, aspects of such an embodiment shift the burden ofnetwork device detection and configuration from the HMI device to thenetwork devices (e.g., controller devices). Because the HMI device maynot need special processing or configuration capabilities, virtually anyuser interface display device can be used as an HMI device to access thenetwork and control or configure devices on the network.

In various embodiments, the controller devices may communicate withvarious additional devices, e.g., various components of a manufacturingline or process, sensors, etc. Such communications may be accomplishedvia one or more application programming interfaces (“APIs”).

Various aspects of the present disclosure may individually and/orcollectively provide various technical advantages as described herein,and may overcome various disadvantages of prior art systems and methods.For example, embodiments of the present disclosure may includeindustrial controller devices (also referred to herein as “controllerdevices”) that may include built-in wireless and/or wired communicationscapabilities, data storage and offloading capabilities, rapidconfiguration capabilities, and/or additional device controlcapabilities. The controller devices may automatically establishcommunication with a remote management server. The controller devicesmay be remotely and centrally monitored and configured via themanagement server, e.g., via an interactive graphical user interfaceaccessible from a user computing device. The controller devices mayinclude configuration execution capabilities such that they may operateautonomously based on a current configuration. However, the controllerdevices may further include automatic offloading of received data to aremote database (e.g., via the management server). Such received datamay be useable by the management server for providing further analyses,insights, alerts, etc. to users via interactive graphical userinterfaces. The controller devices may provide remote access to liveoperational data via a web-server operating on the controller devices.Human machine interface devices may communicate with the controllerdevices via wired or wireless, direct or networked communications. Thecontroller devices may provide interactive graphical user interfaces tosuch human machine interface devices, enabling synchronization ofcontroller device status at multiple human machine interface devicesand/or other user devices. Thus, according to various embodiments of thepresent disclosure, the controller devices and the management server mayreplace and streamline the multiple layers of technology of priorsystems, while also providing added benefits and functionality overprior systems, and maintaining options for interfacing with and workingwith prior systems (e.g., existing sensors, PLCs, etc.).

Advantageously, according to various embodiments, the present disclosuremay provide a modern platform that may combine data collection, control,alerts, and analytics in an easy to deploy and easy to use system—fromthe plant floor to remote sites. Embodiments of the present disclosuremay enable management of controller devices from a secure clouddashboard. Embodiments of the present disclosure may provide controllerdevices that combine the local control and data collection capabilitiesof a programmable logic controller (“PLC”) or remote terminal unit(“RTU”), with a cellular gateway into a single device designed to meetthe harsh demands of various industrial environments, includingwater/wastewater, oil and gas, and the like. Embodiments of the presentdisclosure may enable out-of-the-box visibility of real-time andhistorical data, and simple alerting without the hassle of additionalsoftware or complexity that may be required in prior systems.

Embodiments of the disclosure will now be described with reference tothe accompanying figures, wherein like numerals refer to like elementsthroughout. The terminology used in the description presented herein isnot intended to be interpreted in any limited or restrictive manner,simply because it is being utilized in conjunction with a detaileddescription of certain specific embodiments of the disclosure.Furthermore, embodiments of the disclosure may include several novelfeatures, no single one of which is solely responsible for its desirableattributes or which is essential to practicing the embodiments of thedisclosure herein described.

II. Terms

In order to facilitate an understanding of the systems and methodsdiscussed herein, a number of terms are defined below. The terms definedbelow, as well as other terms used herein, should be construed broadlyto include the provided definitions, the ordinary and customary meaningof the terms, and/or any other implied meaning for the respective terms.Thus, the definitions below do not limit the meaning of these terms, butonly provide example definitions.

User Input (also referred to as “Input”): Any interaction, data,indication, etc., received by a system/device from a user, arepresentative of a user, an entity associated with a user, and/or anyother entity. Inputs may include any interactions that are intended tobe received and/or stored by the system/device; to cause thesystem/device to access and/or store data items; to cause the system toanalyze, integrate, and/or otherwise use data items; to cause the systemto update to data that is displayed; to cause the system to update a waythat data is displayed; and/or the like. Non-limiting examples of userinputs include keyboard inputs, mouse inputs, digital pen inputs, voiceinputs, finger touch inputs (e.g., via touch sensitive display), gestureinputs (e.g., hand movements, finger movements, arm movements, movementsof any other appendage, and/or body movements), and/or the like.Additionally, user inputs to the system may include inputs via toolsand/or other objects manipulated by the user. For example, the user maymove an object, such as a tool, stylus, or wand, to provide inputs.Further, user inputs may include motion, position, rotation, angle,alignment, orientation, configuration (e.g., fist, hand flat, one fingerextended, etc.), and/or the like. For example, user inputs may comprisea position, orientation, and/or motion of a hand or other appendage, abody, a 3D mouse, and/or the like.

Data Store: Any computer readable storage medium and/or device (orcollection of data storage mediums and/or devices). Examples of datastores include, but are not limited to, optical disks (e.g., CD-ROM,DVD-ROM, etc.), magnetic disks (e.g., hard disks, floppy disks, etc.),memory circuits (e.g., solid state drives, random-access memory (RAM),etc.), and/or the like. Another example of a data store is a hostedstorage environment that includes a collection of physical data storagedevices that may be remotely accessible and may be rapidly provisionedas needed (commonly referred to as “cloud” storage).

Database: Any data structure (and/or combinations of multiple datastructures) for storing and/or organizing data, including, but notlimited to, relational databases (e.g., Oracle databases, PostgreSQLdatabases, etc.), non-relational databases (e.g., NoSQL databases,etc.), in-memory databases, spreadsheets, comma separated values (CSV)files, eXtendible markup language (XML) files, TeXT (TXT) files, flatfiles, spreadsheet files, and/or any other widely used or proprietaryformat for data storage. Databases are typically stored in one or moredata stores. Accordingly, each database referred to herein (e.g., in thedescription herein and/or the figures of the present application) is tobe understood as being stored in one or more data stores. Additionally,although the present disclosure may show or describe data as beingstored in combined or separate databases, in various embodiments suchdata may be combined and/or separated in any appropriate way into one ormore databases, one or more tables of one or more databases, etc. Asused herein, a data source may refer to a table in a relationaldatabase, for example.

III. Example Operating Environment

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of an example operating environment100 in which one or more aspects of the present disclosure may operate,according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. Theoperating environment 100 may include one or more user devices 120, amanagement server 140, controller device 150, one or more human machineinterface devices 170, and one or more additional devices 180. Thevarious devices may communicate with one another via, e.g., acommunications network 130 and/or a local communications network 160, asillustrated.

In general, the controller device 150 comprises a housing includingprocessor(s), memory, input/output ports, etc. that may be affixed to,or positioned near, e.g., an industrial process, a manufacturing line,one or more industrial machines, and/or the like. The controller device150 provides outputs to, receives inputs from, and otherwisecommunicates with and/or controls, various additional systems anddevices, e.g., associated with an industrial process. In general, thecontroller device 150 functions based on a configuration of thecontroller device 150, which may include various communicationsspecifications (e.g., that indicate functionality of the input andoutput ports), executable program instructions/code, and/or the like.Based on the configuration, the controller device 150 may process oranalyze data received via the ports of the controller device 150, andprovide outputs or controls, cause sending of alerts, etc., based on theprocessing/analyses. Configurations of the controller device 150 mayinclude various analysis algorithms, program instructions, scripts,etc., as described herein. Execution of the configuration may beperformed on the controller device 150, rather than remotely, to enablerapid responses to the results of analyses of inputs to the controllerdevice 150.

Received data and analysis results/data may be stored in a memory of thecontroller device 150 (e.g., a computer readable storage medium). Thereceived data and analysis results may also be automatically transmittedfrom the controller device 150, e.g., to management server 140. Themanagement server 140 may thereby receive data and analysis results frommultiple controller devices 150, and may aggregate and perform furtheranalyses on the received data and analysis results from multiplecontroller devices 150.

The management server 140 may communicate with the controller device(s)150 to enable remote, rapid configuration of the controller device(s)150. Such configuration may be accomplished via interactive graphicaluser interfaces provided by the management server 140 and accessible bythe user device(s) 120, for example. Via the management server 140,and/or directly by communication with the controller device(s) 150, userdevice(s) 120 may access substantially real-time views of status,analysis, etc. of the controller device(s) 150. Communications with thecontroller device(s) 150 may be accomplished via web-servers executingon the controller devices 150 themselves.

In some embodiments, the features and services provided by themanagement server 140 may be implemented as web services consumable viathe network 130. In further embodiments, the management server 140 isprovided by one or more virtual machines implemented in a hostedcomputing environment. The hosted computing environment may include oneor more rapidly provisioned and released computing resources, whichcomputing resources may include computing, networking and/or storagedevices.

In general, the optional human machine interface (“HMI”) device(s) 170may be any computing device such as a desktop, laptop or tabletcomputer, personal computer, tablet computer, wearable computer, server,personal digital assistant (PDA), hybrid PDA/mobile phone, mobile phone,smartphone, set top box, voice command device, digital media player, andthe like. A human machine interface device 170 may execute anapplication (e.g., a browser, a stand-alone application, etc.) thatallows a user to access interactive user interfaces, view analyses oraggregated data, and/or the like as described herein. The human machineinterface device(s) 170 may communicate with the controller device(s)150, e.g., via accessing web-servers running on the controller device(s)150 that provide interactive graphical user interfaces to the humanmachine interface device(s) 170. Users may thereby configure and/ormonitor status of the controller device(s) 150 via the human machineinterface device(s) 170. Typically, the human machine interfacedevice(s) 170 may communicate with the controller device(s) 150 via alocal network (e.g., a network local to, or on-site at, a particularorganization).

The optional additional device(s) 180 may comprise various components ofa manufacturing/industrial line or process, sensors, and/or the like.The controller device(s) 150 may communicate with the additionaldevice(s) 180 to receive information from the additional device(s) 180,and/or to provide outputs/controls to the additional device(s) 180.Communications with the additional device(s) 180 may be accomplished viaone or more application programming interfaces (“APIs”). Communicationswith the additional device(s) 180 may also be accomplished viaintermediate communications with existing or legacy devices, such asspecialized PLCs and/or the like.

Various example user devices 120 are shown in FIG. 1, including adesktop computer, laptop, and a mobile phone, each provided by way ofillustration. In general, the user devices 120 can be any computingdevice such as a desktop, laptop or tablet computer, personal computer,tablet computer, wearable computer, server, personal digital assistant(PDA), hybrid PDA/mobile phone, mobile phone, smartphone, set top box,voice command device, digital media player, and the like. A user device120 may execute an application (e.g., a browser, a stand-aloneapplication, etc.) that allows a user to access interactive userinterfaces, view analyses or aggregated data, and/or the like asdescribed herein. In various embodiments, users may interact withvarious components of the example operating environment 100 (e.g., themanagement server 140, the controller device(s) 150, the human machineinterface device(s) 170, etc.) via the user device(s) 120. Suchinteractions may typically be accomplished via interactive graphicaluser interfaces, however alternatively such interactions may beaccomplished via command line, and/or other means.

The network 130 may include any wired network, wireless network, orcombination thereof. For example, the network 130 may be a personal areanetwork, local area network, wide area network, over-the-air broadcastnetwork (e.g., for radio or television), cable network, satellitenetwork, cellular telephone network, or combination thereof. As afurther example, the network 130 may be a publicly accessible network oflinked networks, possibly operated by various distinct parties, such asthe Internet. In some embodiments, the network 130 may be a private orsemi-private network, such as a corporate or university intranet. Thenetwork 130 may include one or more wireless networks, such as a GlobalSystem for Mobile Communications (GSM) network, a Code Division MultipleAccess (CDMA) network, a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network, or any othertype of wireless network. The network 130 can use protocols andcomponents for communicating via the Internet or any of the otheraforementioned types of networks. For example, the protocols used by thenetwork 130 may include Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), HTTP Secure(HTTPS), Message Queue Telemetry Transport (MQTT), ConstrainedApplication Protocol (CoAP), and the like. Protocols and components forcommunicating via the Internet or any of the other aforementioned typesof communication networks are well known to those skilled in the artand, thus, are not described in more detail herein.

The local network 160 may similarly include any wired network, wirelessnetwork, or combination thereof. In general, however, the local network160 illustrated in FIG. 1 represents a network that may be local to aparticular organization, e.g., a private or semi-private network, suchas a corporate or university intranet. In some implementations, devicesmay communicate via the local network 160 without traversing an externalnetwork 130 such as the Internet. In some implementations, devicesconnected via the local network 160 may be walled off from accessing thenetwork 130 (e.g., the Internet), e.g., by a gateway device, unlessspecifically granted access to the network 130. Accordingly, e.g., thehuman machine interface device(s) 170 (and/or user device(s) 120) maycommunicate with the controller device 150 directly (via wired orwireless communications) or via the local network 160, withouttraversing the network 130. Thus, even if the network 130 is down, or isnot currently providing connectivity to the management server 140, thecontroller device(s) 150 and the human machine interface device(s) 170(and/or the user device(s) 120) may continue to communicate and functionvia the local network 160 (or via direct communications).

For example, the network 160 may be a personal area network, local areanetwork, wide area network, over-the-air broadcast network (e.g., forradio or television), cable network, satellite network, cellulartelephone network, or combination thereof. As a further example, thenetwork 160 may be a publicly accessible network of linked networks,possibly operated by various distinct parties, such as the Internet. Insome embodiments, the network 160 may be a private or semi-privatenetwork, such as a corporate or university intranet. The network 160 mayinclude one or more wireless networks, such as a Global System forMobile Communications (GSM) network, a Code Division Multiple Access(CDMA) network, a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network, or any other typeof wireless network. The network 160 can use protocols and componentsfor communicating via the Internet or any of the other aforementionedtypes of networks. For example, the protocols used by the network 160may include Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), HTTP Secure (HTTPS),Message Queue Telemetry Transport (MQTT), Constrained ApplicationProtocol (CoAP), and the like. Protocols and components forcommunicating via the Internet or any of the other aforementioned typesof communication networks are well known to those skilled in the artand, thus, are not described in more detail herein.

In various embodiments, communications among the various components ofthe example operating environment 100 may be accomplished via anysuitable means. For example, the controller device(s) 150 maycommunicate with one another, the additional device(s) 180, the humanmachine interface device(s) 170, the management server 140, and/or theuser device(s) 120 via any combination of the network 130, the localnetwork 160, or any other wired or wireless communications means ormethod (e.g., Bluetooth, WiFi, infrared, cellular, etc.).

Further details and examples regarding the implementations, operation,and functionality, including various interactive graphical userinterfaces, of the various components of the example operatingenvironment 100 are described herein in reference to various figures.

IV. Example Management Device/Server

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram including an example implementationof a management device 230, according to various embodiments of thepresent disclosure. In the example implementation, management device 230includes management server 140, which management server 140 may be a Webor cloud server, or a cluster of servers, running on one or more sets ofserver hardware. In an embodiment, the management server 140 works forboth single and multi-tenant installations, meaning that multipleorganizations with different administrators may have, e.g., multiplecontroller devices, human machine interface devices, and additionaldevices managed by the same management server.

According to various embodiments, management server 140 may beimplemented on management device 230 (or multiple devices similar tomanagement device 230), which includes server hardware 205. Serverhardware 205 includes one or more communication interfaces 260, one ormore processors 262, and one or more computer readable storage mediums210, each of which may be in communication with one another. Thecomputer readable storage medium 210 includes data processing module251, user interface module 252, network manager module 253, devicesdatabase 254, configurations database 256, and organizations database258. In various implementations, the various databases of the managementdevice 230 may be combined or separated/partitioned as appropriate toimplement the functionality described herein, and to maintain securityand separation of data, e.g., for different organizations. In variousimplementations, the various databases may or may not be storedseparately from the management device 230.

In various implementations one or more buses, interconnects,wires/cables, etc. may be used to interconnect the various components ofthe server hardware 205. In various implementations one or moreinterfaces, APIs, communication layers, buses, interconnects,wires/cables, etc. may be used to interconnect the various components ofthe management device 230.

In operation, the one or more communication interfaces 260, one or moreprocessors 262, and one or more computer readable storage mediums 210communicate with one another to, e.g., execute by the processor(s) 262computer program instructions (e.g., as provided by the user interfacemodule 252); receive, access, and transmit data (e.g., to/from thedatabases and via the communication interface(s) 260); and/or the like.In general, the server hardware 205 enables the functionality of themanagement server 140 as described herein. Further implementationdetails are described below.

In operation, the communication interface(s) 260 may provide wiredand/or wireless communications with other devices and networks, asdescribed herein. In various embodiments, communications among thevarious components of the example operating environment 100 may beaccomplished via any suitable means. For example, the management server140 and/or management device 230 may communicate with the controllerdevice 150, the human machine interface device(s) 170, the additionaldevice(s) 180, and/or the user device(s) 120 via any combination of thenetwork 130, the local network 160, or any other communications means ormethod (e.g., Bluetooth, WiFi, infrared, cellular, etc.). Accordingly,the communications interface(s) 260 may include one or more of wired andwireless transceivers, such as a Joint Test Action Group (JTAG)transceiver, a Bluetooth or Bluetooth Low Energy (LE) transceiver, anIEEE 802.11 transceiver, an Ethernet transceiver, a USB transceiver, aThunderbolt transceiver, an infrared transceiver, a wireless cellulartelephony transceiver (e.g., 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G), or the like.

In operation, data processing module 251 may provide processing andanalysis of data (e.g., data received from the various devices,including the controller devices and/or additional devices) as describedherein. The data processing/analysis may usefully provide insights andinformation that may be provided via various interactive graphical userinterfaces, as described herein.

In operation, the user interface module 252 may provide the variousinteractive graphical user interface functionality described herein.This may include, for example, generating user interface data useablefor rendering the various interactive user interfaces described. Theuser interface data may be used by various computer systems, devices,and/or software programs (for example, a browser program of a userdevice 120), to render the interactive user interfaces. The interactiveuser interfaces may be displayed on, for example, electronic displays(including, for example, touch-enabled displays). For example, the userinterface module 252 may provide various network accessible interactivegraphical user interfaces, e.g., to allow the administrators of thevarious organizations and devices to create and log into an accountassociated with an organization to which a set of devices belong (e.g.,controller devices and additional devices), and manage, and access dataassociated with, those devices as described herein.

In operation, the network manager module 253 may provide communicationwith and configuration and management of the various devices associatedwith each organization. This may include, for example, receiving andmanaging information related to the various devices (e.g., controllerdevices, additional devices, and human machine interface devices) at thetime of manufacture, associating devices with particular organizationswhen they are purchased/claimed and implemented by the organizations(e.g., the claiming may be performed at least in part by populating thedevices database 254 and the organizations database 258 with appropriateinformation when the devices are associated with an organization),receiving data from the various devices (e.g., and storing the data inthe devices database 254 or other appropriate database), sending data tovarious devices (e.g., sending and/or syncing configurations stored inthe configurations database 256 to/with various devices), and/or thelike.

In operation, the devices database 254 may store information regardingthe controller devices 150, human machine interface devices 170, and/oradditional devices 180, and various relationships and associations amongthese devices. This information may include identifiers associated withthese devices, data received from these devices, analysis data fromthese devices, etc.

In operation, the configurations database 256 may store informationregarding configurations of the controller devices 150, human machineinterface devices 170, and additional devices 180.

In operation, the organizations database 258 may store informationregarding the organizations to which the controller devices 150, humanmachine interface devices 170, and additional devices 180 belong.

In various embodiments, the management server 140, as implemented by themanagement device 230, may include various other modules, components,engines, etc. to provide the functionality as described herein. It willbe appreciated that additional components, not shown, may also be partof the management server 140 and/or the management device 230, and, incertain embodiments, fewer components than that shown in FIG. 2 may alsobe used in the management server 140 and/or the management device 230.For example, the management server 140 may include a security moduleused to manage cryptographic keys, certificates, and/or other dataassociated with establishing secure communication with various otherdevices. For example, the devices database 254 may include an identifierof each device (e.g., a serial number), a secret to be used to establisha secure communication with the devices of the same organization, and/ora mechanism to authenticate the devices' identity (e.g., the public keyof a private public key pair, the private key of which was embedded orstored in the device during the manufacturing, etc.).

While various embodiments do not implement virtualization, alternativeembodiments may use different forms of virtualization—represented by avirtualization layer 220 in the management device 230. In theseembodiments, the management server 140 and the hardware that executes itform a virtual management server, which is a software instance of themodules and/or databases stored on the computer readable storage medium210.

For example, in an implementation the management device 230 (or one ormore aspects of the management device 230, e.g., the management server140) may comprise, or be implemented in, a “virtual computingenvironment”. As used herein, the terms “virtual computing environment”,“virtualization”, “virtual machine”, and/or the like should be construedbroadly to include, for example, computer readable program instructionsexecuted by one or more processors (e.g., as described below) toimplement one or more aspects of the modules and/or functionalitydescribed herein. Further, in this implementation, one or moremodules/engines/etc. (e.g., user interface module 252) and/or databasesof the management device 230 may be understood as comprising one or morerules engines of the virtual computing environment that, in response toinputs received by the virtual computing environment, execute rulesand/or other program instructions to modify operation of the virtualcomputing environment. For example, a request received from the userdevice(s) 120 may be understood as modifying operation of the virtualcomputing environment to cause modules to gather data, generate ortransmit configurations, generate or transmit user interfaces, etc. Suchfunctionality may comprise a modification of the operation of thevirtual computing environment in response to inputs and according tovarious rules. Other functionality implemented by the virtual computingenvironment (as described throughout this disclosure) may furthercomprise modifications of the operation of the virtual computingenvironment, for example, the operation of the virtual computingenvironment may change depending on the information gathered and/orresponses received and analyzed. Initial operation of the virtualcomputing environment may be understood as an establishment of thevirtual computing environment. In some implementations the virtualcomputing environment may comprise one or more virtual machines,virtualization layers, containers, and/or other types of emulations ofcomputing systems or environments. In some implementations the virtualcomputing environment may comprise a hosted computing environment thatincludes a collection of physical computing resources that may beremotely accessible and may be rapidly provisioned as needed (commonlyreferred to as “cloud” computing environment).

Implementing one or more aspects of the management device 230 as avirtual computing environment may advantageously enable executingdifferent aspects or modules of the system on different computingdevices or processors, which may increase the scalability of the system.Implementing one or more aspects of the management device 230 as avirtual computing environment may further advantageously enablesandboxing various aspects, data, or modules of the system from oneanother, which may increase security of the system by preventing, e.g.,malicious intrusion into the system from spreading. Implementing one ormore aspects of the management device 230 as a virtual computingenvironment may further advantageously enable parallel execution ofvarious aspects or modules of the system, which may increase thescalability of the system. Implementing one or more aspects of themanagement device 230 as a virtual computing environment may furtheradvantageously enable rapid provisioning (or de-provisioning) ofcomputing resources to the system, which may increase scalability of thesystem by, e.g., expanding computing resources available to the systemor duplicating operation of the system on multiple computing resources.For example, the system may be used by thousands, hundreds of thousands,or even millions of users simultaneously, and many megabytes, gigabytes,or terabytes (or more) of data may be transferred or processed by thesystem, and scalability of the system may enable such operation in anefficient and/or uninterrupted manner.

V. Example Controller Device

FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of an example controller device 150,according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. Controllerdevice 150 may comprise one or more processors 322, one or morecommunication interfaces 324, and one or more computer readable storagemediums 330, each of which may be in communication with one another. Thecomputer readable storage medium(s) 330 may include received data 332,configuration data 334, web server module(s) 336, and data processingmodule(s) 338. The received data 332 and the configuration data 334 maybe stored in one or more databases of the controller device 150. Invarious implementations one or more buses, interconnects, wires/cables,etc. may be used to interconnect the various components of thecontroller device 150, and of the controller device 150 more generally.

In operation, the one or more communication interfaces 324, one or moreprocessors 322, and one or more computer readable storage mediums 330communicate with one another to, e.g., execute by the processor(s) 322computer program instructions (e.g., as provided by the configurationdata 334, the web server module(s) 336, and/or the data processingmodule(s) 338); receive, access, and transmit data (e.g., to/from thereceived data 332 and/or configuration data 334, and via thecommunication interface(s) 324); and/or the like. Further implementationdetails are described below.

In operation, the communication interface(s) 324 may provide wiredand/or wireless communications with other devices and networks, asdescribed herein. In various embodiments, communications among thevarious components of the example operating environment 100 may beaccomplished via any suitable means. For example, the controllerdevice(s) 150 may communicate with one another, the additional device(s)180, the human machine interface device(s) 170, the management server140, and/or the user device(s) 120 via any combination of the network130, the local network 160, or any other communications means or method(e.g., Bluetooth, WiFi, infrared, cellular, etc.). Accordingly, thecommunications interface(s) 324 may include one or more of wired andwireless transceivers, such as a Joint Test Action Group (JTAG)transceiver, a Bluetooth or Bluetooth Low Energy (LE) transceiver, anIEEE 802.11 transceiver, an Ethernet transceiver, a USB transceiver, aThunderbolt transceiver, an infrared transceiver, a wireless cellulartelephony transceiver (e.g., 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G), or the like. Thecommunications interface(s) 324 may further include, for example, serialinputs/outputs, digital inputs/output, analog inputs/outputs, and thelike. As noted herein, the communications interface(s) 324 may furtherinclude one or more application programming interfaces (“APIs”).

In operation, the received data 332 includes any operational data,analysis data or results, or data received from the various additionaldevices 180 by the controller device 150, e.g., via the variousinput/output ports of the controller device 150. Such received data 332may include data processed by the controller device 150 (e.g., via thedata processing module(s) 338).

In operation, the configuration data 334 includes one or moreconfigurations that configure operation of the controller device 150, asdescribed herein. For example, such configurations may be received froma user and/or the management device 230 (and/or other devices incommunication with the controller device 150), and may include variouscommunications specifications (e.g., that indicate functionality of theinput and output ports), executable program instructions/code,algorithms or processes for processing the received data, and/or thelike. The controller device 150 may store multiple configurations in theconfiguration data 334, which may be selectively run or implemented,e.g., via user selection via the management server 140, the humanmachine interface device(s) 170, and/or the user device(s) 120.

In operation, the web server module(s) 336 may include program codeexecutable, e.g., by the processor(s) 322 to provide a web-based access(e.g., interactive graphical user interfaces accessible via web-basedcommunications protocols, rendering of interactive graphical userinterfaces written in web-based languages by web-based browsers, etc.)to the controller device 150, e.g., to configure the controller device150 and/or access data of the controller device 150, as furtherdescribed herein. Such web-based access may be via one or morecommunications protocols, e.g., TCP/IP, UDP, WebRTC, etc., and mayinclude one or more secure communications/cryptographic protocols, e.g.,TLS, SSL, etc., and may further be provided via communicationsinterface(s) 324. This may include, for example, generating userinterface data useable for rendering the various interactive userinterfaces described. The user interface data may be used by variouscomputer systems, devices, and/or software programs (for example, abrowser program of a user device 120), to render the interactive userinterfaces. The interactive user interfaces may be displayed on, forexample, electronic displays (including, for example, touch-enableddisplays). In various implementations one or more of the managementserver 140, user device(s) 120, and human machine interface device(s)170 may communicate with the controller device 150 via one or more ofthe web server module(s) 336.

In operation, the data processing module(s) 338 may provide processingand analysis of received data, as described herein. The type ofprocessing and analysis may be provided by the configuration data 334,and may result in one or more outputs from the controller device 150that may be provided via the communications interface(s) 324, as furtherdescribed herein. In various implementations, the data processingmodule(s) 338 may be executed by the processor(s) 322, whichprocessor(s) 322 may include various types of processors includingspecial purposes processors, e.g., Graphics Processing Units (“GPUs”),Application Specific Integrated Circuits (“ASICs”), Field-ProgrammableGate Arrays (“FPGAs”), and/or the like.

As described herein, received data, analysis results, and/orconfiguration data may be communicated, e.g., via the communicationsinterface(s) 324, to other devices, such as the management server 140and/or user device(s) 120. For example, the controller device 150 may beconfigured to reliably and securely offload data and to transmit thedata to the management server 140 regardless of whether the connectivityof the controller device 150 (e.g., to the management server 140) isintermittent. For example, data may be stored by the controller device150 until connectivity is available, and may then transmit the data tothe management server 140.

In various implementations, as described above, the controller device(s)150 may communicate with one or more additional devices 180, which mayinclude, e.g., various components of a manufacturing/industrial line orprocess, sensors, etc. Communications with additional device(s) 180 maybe via direct (e.g., not via a network) wired and/or wirelesscommunications, and/or may be via a network (e.g., a local network)wired and/or wireless communications. Such communications may beaccomplished via one or more APIs. Communications with the additionaldevice(s) 180 may also be accomplished via intermediate communicationswith existing or legacy devices, such as specialized PLCs (e.g., thecontroller device 150 may include PCL control languages forcommunicating with PLCs, such as IEC 61131-3), and/or the like.

In various implementations, as described above, the controller device(s)150 may communicate with one or more human machine interface devices170. Communications with human machine interface device(s) 170 may bevia direct (e.g., not via a network) wired and/or wirelesscommunications, and/or may be via a network (e.g., a local network)wired and/or wireless communications. Via communications with the humanmachine interface device(s) 170, users may configure and/or monitorstatus of the controller device 150. As described herein, the controllerdevice(s) 150 may advantageously communicate with the human machineinterface device(s) 170 via the web server module(s) 336.

In various embodiments, the controller device 150, may include variousother modules, components, engines, etc. to provide the functionality asdescribed herein. It will be appreciated that additional components, notshown, may also be part of the controller device 150, and, in certainembodiments, fewer components than that shown in FIG. 3 may also be usedin the controller device 150.

In various embodiments, firmware of the controller device 150 may beupdated such that the controller device 150 may provide additionalfunctionality. Such firmware updating may be accomplished, e.g., viacommunications with the management server 140, thereby enabling updatingof multiple controller devices 150 remotely and centrally. Additionalfunctionality may include, for example, additional communicationsspecifications, additional ways of communicating with additional devices180 (e.g., additional control languages, etc.), additionalconfigurations or options for configurations, and/or the like.

VI. Example Human Machine Interface Device

Referring again to FIG. 1, human machine interface (“HMI”) device(s) 170may comprise computing devices that provide a means for a user tointeract with a device. Human machine interfaces may comprise userinterfaces or dashboards that connect a user with a machine, system, ordevice, commonly used in industrial processes. In variousimplementations, human machine interface device(s) 170 comprise computerdevices with a display and a mechanism for user input (e.g., mouse,keyboard, voice recognition, touch screen, and/or the like). In animplementation, the human machine interface device(s) 170 comprisetablet computing devices.

As noted above, the human machine interface device(s) 170 maycommunicate with the controller device 150 and/or the management server140 via direct (e.g., not via a network) wired and/or wirelesscommunications, and/or via a network (e.g., a local network) wiredand/or wireless communications. In one example, a human machineinterface device 170 communicates with a controller device 150 via alocal network and a web server module 336 of the controller device 150.In this example, the human machine interface device 170 is directed toconnect with the controller device 150 (e.g., via an IP address and,optionally, a particular port of the controller device 150, or a uniqueidentifier or name associated with the controller device 150) of thecontroller device 150, and the web server module 336 of the controllerdevice 150 provides a browser-renderable webpage including aninteractive HMI. The interactive HMI may include a current status orconfiguration of the controller device 150, options to changeconfiguration of the controller device 150, and/or the like.

Advantageously, according to various embodiments, a user may configurean interactive HMI user interface layout via the management server 140(and/or the controller device(s) 150 via the management server 140), andmay then push the interactive HMI user interface layout configuration tocontroller device(s) 150 (e.g., via the management server 140). Thecontroller device(s) 150 may then provide the configured interactive HMIvia the web server module(s) 336 as described herein. Advantageously,such functionality may enable remote and centralized configuration ofinteractive HMIs (and possible duplication of HMIs to multiplecontroller devices 150) without requiring direct programming orinteraction with the controller device(s) 150 or human machine interfacedevice(s) 170.

Advantageously, because the HMI is provided by a web server module 336of the controller device 150, multiple human machine interface devices170, and/or the management server 140 may simultaneously access and/orcommunicate with the controller device 150 (e.g., via the HMI providedvia the web server module(s) 336, and/or via other communicationsmeans), and a current configuration/status of the controller device 150may be accurately kept synchronized/kept up-to-date from each device.

Further example embodiments and implementations of HMI functionality aredescribed in further detail below. For example, further descriptionrelated to network connection of HMI devices to controller devices, andadjusting controller device operation, and interactive graphical userinterfaces related thereto, are described, e.g., in reference to FIGS.11-14.

VII. Example Additional Devices

Referring again to FIG. 1, additional device(s) 180 may include, e.g.,various components of a manufacturing/industrial line or process,sensors, and/or the like. For example, additional device(s) 180 mayinclude detector devices that may include a trigger input to thecontroller device(s) 150, reject devices to which the controllerdevice(s) 150 may provide an output to reject articles, machinery inputsto which the controller device(s) 150 may provide an output in responseto various data analyses (e.g., to speed up or slow down a manufacturingprocess, to adjust a manufacturing process, to actuate or operate amachine, to execute a process, to activate or deactivate a light orprocess, to communicate with an automated process or device, tocommunicate with a software program, etc.), multiple components/deviceson a manufacturing line to which the controller device(s) 150 mayprovide configurations, sensors that may provide controller device(s)150 with input information that may be used by the controller device(s)150 and/or provided by the controller device(s) 150 to the managementserver 140, and/or the like. Additional non-limiting examples ofadditional device(s) 180 include:

-   -   Sensors/monitors (e.g., temperature, levels, vibration, power,        pressure, etc.)    -   Facility meters (e.g., water, air, gas, energy, steam, etc.)    -   Machine/systems I/O (e.g., relays, contacts, valves, flow, etc.)    -   Legacy equipment (e.g., programmable logic controllers (“PLCs”),        controllers, etc.)

As described herein, additional device(s) 180 may be communicated withand/or configured via the controller device(s) 150. Communications withthe additional device(s) 180 may also be accomplished via intermediatecommunications with existing or legacy devices, such as specialized PLCsand/or the like. Alternatively, additional device(s) 180 may becommunicated with and/or configured via communication with human machineinterface device(s) 170, management server 140, and/or user device(s)120. Data and information gathered from the additional device(s) 180 maybe provided to the management server 140, e.g., via the controllerdevice(s) 150 and/or directly (e.g., via a network).

In various implementations one or more of, or a combination of, thecontroller device(s) 150, the management server 140, and/or the humanmachine interface device(s) 170 may provide an application programminginterface (“API”) by which communications may be accomplished with theadditional device(s) 180.

VIII. Example Controller Device Physical Implementation

FIG. 4 is a diagram of an example physical implementation of thecontroller device 150, according to various embodiments of the presentdisclosure. As described herein, while the embodiment described inreference to FIG. 4 shows one example implementation of the controllerdevice 150, other implementations are contemplated, includingimplementations that place the various communications interfaces 324 indifferent locations, or that include more or fewer communicationsinterfaces 324, etc. In various implementations, the controller device150 may support scalable expansion input/output (“I/O”) modules forhigher density applications.

FIG. 4 shows a front perspective view of the controller device 150. Asshown, the controller device 150 may include a housing 402, which may bemade of metal (e.g., aluminum, stainless steel, etc.), plastic (e.g.,UV-stabilized polycarbonate, etc.), and/or any other suitable materialor combination of materials. The housing 402 may include variousports/connectors (e.g., communications interfaces 324), e.g., forinterfacing with additional device(s) 180. For example, the controllerdevice 150 may include an Ethernet port 404, one or more USB ports 406,serial I/O ports 408 (e.g., RS232, RS485, and/or the like), digital I/Oports 410 (which may include counters), and analog I/O ports 414. Thecontroller device 150 may further include power ports 412.

In an implementation, the serial I/O ports 408 are ESD protected, andsupport RS485 (up to 20 Mbps, 2-wire, half-duplex), RS232 (up to 1 Mbps,2-wire, full or half-duplex), and various serial protocols (e.g., Modbusslave/master). Various other implementations and specifications of theserial I/O ports 408 are contemplated.

In an implementation, the digital I/O ports 410 may include six pins,each being configurable as input or outputs (open-drain), withESD/EFT/Surge protection. As inputs, the digital I/O ports 410 mayprovide dry-contact (internally sourced 3.3V @ 1 mA) or wet-contact(0-30V). As outputs, the digital I/O ports 410 may provide sinkingMOSFET outputs, rated 30V, 0.5 A. In an implementation, the digital I/Oports 410 may include two counter inputs with 0-30V, and up to 10 Hz(dry-contact) or up to 10 kHz (wet-contact). Various otherimplementations and specifications of the digital I/O ports 410 arecontemplated.

In an implementation, the analog inputs may include four isolatedchannels with 0-12 V or 0-24 mA, with a 14-bit ADC resolution, with anaccuracy of 0.1% FSR at 25 C, with ESD/EFT/Surge protection, and with aninput resistance at 24 mA of 300 ohm. In an implementation, the analogoutputs may include two isolated channels with 0-12 V or 0-24 mA, with a16-bit resolution, with an accuracy of +/−0.2% FSR at 25 C, withESD/EFT/Surge protection, with a settling time of 5 μs, and with a loadrange of 1000 ohm (12V)-600 ohm (20 mA). Various other implementationsand specifications of the analog I/O ports 414 are contemplated.

In an implementation, the power ports 412 and the controller device 150may support 10-28 Vdc, and may have a maximum power draw of 10.8 W @ 12Vwithout analog outputs, and 20 W @ 12V with analog inputs. Various otherimplementations and specifications of the power ports 412 and powercharacteristics of the controller device 150 are contemplated. Invarious embodiments, the controller device 150 may include a powersupply internal to the housing 402, or external to the housing 402,which may provide power to the controller device 150.

In an implementation, the controller device 150 has general dimensionsof 180 mm×118 mm×32 mm. In alternative implementations the controllerdevice 150 may have different dimensions. In an implementation, thecontroller device 150 housing is rated IP67 under IEC standard 60529. Inan implementation, the controller device 150 may be certified forhazardous locations Class 1, Division 2, Groups A, B, C, and D (asdefined by the National Electric Code (“NEC”) in Articles 500 to 506).In various implementations the controller device 150 may have otherratings, certifications, or classifications.

As described herein, advantageously the functionality of the various I/Oports of the controller device 150 may be configured to particularapplications, and may be re-configured as needed, via centralizedcommunication with the management server 140.

IX. Further Example Methods and Functionality

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating example methods and functionality,according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. FIG. 5illustrates example functionality provided by, for example, themanagement server 140, the human machine interface device(s) 170, andthe controller device(s) 150.

At block 502, the management server 140 provides an interactivegraphical user interface, which the user may access via user device(s)120, for example, and by which the user may provide a configuration. Themanagement server 140 may establish secure communications with thecontroller device 150 while providing the configuration user interface.In various implementations, ongoing secure communications may or may notbe necessary, as portions of the configuration implementation may notrequire such ongoing communications.

At block 504, via the configuration user interface, the user may specifyconfiguration/functionality of the input/output ports of the controllerdevice 150 (e.g., communications specifications). Such communicationsspecifications may enable the controller device 150 to communicate withvarious additional devices 180 via, e.g., the various communicationsinterface(s) 324 of the controller device 150.

At block 506, via the configuration user interface, the user may specifyexecutable program instructions, code, scripts, etc. to be executed bythe controller device 150 as part of the configuration. Such programinstructions may, for example, provide for analyses of receiveddata/inputs to the controller device 150 (e.g., from additional device180), and generation of outputs in response to those inputs. Suchprogram instructions may further, for example, provide for determinationof analysis results based on the received data/inputs. Examples of suchinputs/outputs include, for example, trigger and/or sensor inputs,inputs/outputs to cause rejection of articles, outputs to machinery tospeed up or slow down a manufacturing process, inputs/outputs to adjusta manufacturing process, inputs/outputs to actuate or operate a machine,inputs/outputs to execute a process, inputs/outputs to activate ordeactivate a light or process, inputs/outputs to communicate with anautomated process or device, inputs/outputs to communicate with asoftware program, etc.

At block 508, the management server 140 implements and/or duplicates theconfiguration to one or more controller device(s) 150. For example, themanagement server 140 may write the configuration to one or morecontroller devices 150 via wireless communication with the controllerdevices 150. Advantageously, the management server 140 may enable usersto centrally access, copy, duplicate, modify, etc. configurations formultiple controller devices 150, making updating one or multiplecontroller devices 150 rapid and efficient.

In various embodiments, a configuration can additionally includeinformation useable by the controller device 150 regarding local andremote storage of received data and analysis data, and/or the like.

Further description related to providing/implementing configurations,and interactive graphical user interfaces related thereto, aredescribed, e.g., in reference to FIGS. 7A-7C and 10A-10C.

As described herein, configurations may be implemented, and statuses ofcontroller device(s) 150 may be monitored, via human machine interfacedevice(s) 170. Accordingly, alternatively and/or in addition to blocks502, 504, 506, and 508 described above in reference to functionality ofthe management server 140, at blocks 520, 522, and 524 the human machineinterface device(s) 170 may provide functionality.

At block 520, the human machine interface device 170 may display aninteractive graphical user interface related to monitoring status of thecontroller device(s) 150 and/or implementing configurations on thecontroller device(s) 150. As described herein, the controller device 150may provide secure remote access, e.g., via a web server executing onthe controller device 150 (e.g., by web server module(s) 336), toprovide interactive HMIs and receive selections of configurations. Atblock 522, the human machine interface device 170 receives a user inputselecting a configuration, and at block 524 the selection of theconfiguration is provided to, or received by, the controller device 150.

While blocks 520, 522, and 524 of example process of FIG. 5 focus on theexample of the human machine interface device(s) 170, in variousembodiments configurations may be received by the controller device(s)150 from, e.g., the management server 140, human machine interfacedevice(s) 170, and the user device(s) 120. In various embodiments, theinteractive HMIs may comprise relatively streamlined interactivegraphical user interfaces. For example, the interactive HMIs maycomprise relatively few large buttons by which a user may select to stopa currently running configuration, may select a different configurationfrom a list (e.g., of configurations stored on the controller device150), may search for a different configuration, and/or may monitor acurrent status of inputs/outputs, analyses, and/or the like. Examples ofinformation that may be included in HMIs include real-time currentvalues of machine inputs, e.g., production count, power levels, value,progress bar, status light, on/off light, etc. Examples of additionalbuttons/functionality that may be included in HMIs include toggling ananalog/digital I/O on/off, sending a Modbus signal or analog I/O signal,starting or stopping a production run, etc. Further description relatedto generating and using HMIs for operation control are described, e.g.,in reference to FIGS. 13-14.

Advantageously, via a human machine interface device 170 (and/or themanagement server 140 and/or user device(s) 120), a user may communicatewith one or more controller device(s) 150 to, e.g., activate multipledevices (e.g., multiple additional devices 180), e.g., as part of amanufacturing process, industrial process or industrial monitoringprocess, and/or the like.

As described above, one or more configurations of the controller device150 may be stored by the controller device 150 (e.g., in configurationdata 334), and may further be synchronized with the management server140 and/or the human machine interface device(s) 170. In variousimplementations, communication of configurations may be accomplishedwithout the use of a web server.

In various implementations, the controller device 150 may provide,optionally via a web server, secure remote access to the controllerdevice 150 by, e.g., the management server 140, the user device(s) 120,and/or the human machine interface device(s) 170. Via such access a usermay, for example, monitor a status of the device, view a live datastream from the device, configure the device, and/or access receiveddata and/or analysis data.

As described herein, in various embodiments alerts may be sent to usersbased on, e.g., data analysis results. The management server 140 mayprovide such alerts to user device(s) 120. In some embodiments, thealert and/or notification is automatically transmitted to a deviceoperated by the user and/or organization associated with a correspondingtrigger. The alert and/or notification can be transmitted at the timethat the alert and/or notification is generated or at some determinedtime after generation of the alert and/or notification. When received bythe device, the alert and/or notification can cause the device todisplay the alert and/or notification via the activation of anapplication on the device (e.g., a browser, a mobile application, etc.).For example, receipt of the alert and/or notification may automaticallyactivate an application on the device, such as a messaging application(e.g., SMS or MMS messaging application), a standalone application(e.g., productions line monitoring application), or a browser, forexample, and display information included in the alert and/ornotification. If the device is offline when the alert and/ornotification is transmitted, the application may be automaticallyactivated when the device is online such that the alert and/ornotification is displayed. As another example, receipt of the alertand/or notification may cause a browser to open and be redirected to alogin page generated by the system so that the user can log in to thesystem and view the alert and/or notification. Alternatively, the alertand/or notification may include a URL of a webpage (or other onlineinformation) associated with the alert and/or notification, such thatwhen the device (e.g., a mobile device) receives the alert, a browser(or other application) is automatically activated and the URL includedin the alert and/or notification is accessed via the Internet.

Further description related to providing/implementing alerts, andinteractive graphical user interfaces related thereto, are described,e.g., in reference to FIGS. 9A-9C.

Referring again to FIG. 5, at block 510 the controller device 150executes the received/selected configuration. Execution of theconfiguration includes, for example, implementation of thecommunications specifications and program code/instructions. Thus, atblock 512, the controller device 150 may receive data/inputs fromvarious additional device(s) 180, and at block 514, provideoutputs/control signals to various additional device(s) 180. At block516, the controller device 150 (e.g., by data processing module(s) 338)may process/analyze received data (according to the currentconfiguration), and at block 518 received data, analysis data, and/orconfigurations may be locally stored and/or transmitted for remotestorage.

In various embodiments, data analysis and/or decision making performedby controller device 150 (e.g., by the data processing module(s) 338)may include execution of deterministic and/or non-deterministic analysisalgorithms. In some examples, the controller device 150 may use machinelearning and/or artificial intelligence algorithms for detection ofpatterns in the received data. Accordingly, based on the dataprocessing/analysis, the device may provide outputs, e.g., viacommunications interface(s) 324, that may be provided to any externaldevice, e.g., additional device(s) 180. Examples of such outputs aredescribed herein. Advantageously, providing outputs direct from thecontroller device 150 may eliminate the need for a separate PLC to,e.g., communicate with other devices/systems.

As mentioned above, the received data and analysis data (e.g., anyand/or all information associated with the analysis/processing,including, e.g., features detected, decisions made, etc.) may be storedand/or logged by the controller device 150, e.g., in a memory/computerreadable storage medium. In some implementations, the received data andanalysis data may be stored indefinitely. In some implementations, thereceived data and analysis data may be stored for a period of time,e.g., rolling based on an acquisition date/time, and then deleted. Insome implementations, the received data and analysis data may be storedor not stored, or stored for a period of time, based on anoutcome/decision of the applicable processing/analysis. For example,data associated with positive outcome/events/determinations may bestored for a shorter period of time (or not at all), while dataassociated with adverse outcome/events/determinations may be stored fora longer period of time. In some implementations, storage of thereceived data and analysis data may be based on any combination of theabove. In general, the analysis, processing, etc. of data may generallyand broadly be referred to herein as “evaluation” of data.

As also mentioned above, advantageously, the controller device 150 mayalso offload received data and analysis data to the management server140 (for storage and further analysis by the management server 140) viawired or wireless communications (e.g., via communications interface(s)324). In some implementations, the received data and analysis data maybe offloaded prior to deletion of such data on the controller device150. In some implementations, the received data and analysis data may beoffloaded in real-time or substantially real-time, or as long ascommunication with the management server 140 is available. In someimplementations, the received data and analysis data may be offloadedperiodically, in batches, and/or on demand. In some implementations, thereceived data and analysis data may be offloaded or not offloaded basedon an outcome/decision of the applicable processing/analysis. In someimplementations, the received data and analysis data may be offloadedbased on and age of the received data and analysis data. In someimplementations, the received data and analysis data may be offloaded ornot offloaded based on network bandwidth availability, time of day(e.g., to preserve bandwidth during business hours), a threshold or capon network bandwidth usage, and/or the like. In some implementations,offloading of the received data and analysis data may be based on anycombination of the above.

In an implementation, a livestream of the received and/or analysis data(e.g., live operational data) may be provided to external devices. Forexample, a livestream may be provided via any suitable communicationsprotocol, and one or more of a web server module 336 or communicationsinterface(s) 324, to user device(s) 120 (e.g., via any combination ofnetwork 130, local network 160, or management server 140). Accordingly,a user may access the livestream in an interactive graphical userinterface provided on a user device 120. Advantageously, the livestreammay be provided via a separate communications path/web server, to avoidthe overhead and resulting reduced efficiency that may be incurred if alivestream was obtained further down the processing pipeline.

Further description related to the management server 140 receiving andaggregating data, and interactive graphical user interfaces relatedthereto, are described, e.g., in reference to FIGS. 6A-6F and 8A-8D.

In various implementations, various aspects of the functionalitydescribed in reference to FIG. 5 may be accomplished in substantiallyreal-time, e.g., received data may be processed as it is received.Alternatively, various aspects of the functionality described inreference to FIG. 5 may be accomplished in batches and/or in parallel.

X. Example Graphical User Interfaces

FIGS. 6A-6F illustrate example interactive graphical user interfacesrelated to analysis of data from controller devices, according tovarious embodiments of the present disclosure. The interactive graphicaluser interfaces of FIGS. 6A-6F may be provided by the management server140, and may be accessible via user device(s) 120. In general, receiveddata and analysis data are automatically gathered from multiplecontroller devices 150 by the management server 140 (as describedherein), and the received data and analysis data may then be furtheraggregated and analyzed to provide information and insights as describedherein. Typically, the graphical user interfaces provided by themanagement server 140 are specific to an organization, and may includeinformation from multiple controller devices 150 associated with theorganization.

FIG. 6A includes selectable options 602 and 604 for accessing variouspages, user interfaces, and aspects of the interactive graphical userinterfaces provided by management server 140. FIG. 6A further includes alist 606 of controller devices (e.g., controller device(s) 150 incommunication with the management server 140 or known by the managementserver 140, and associated with the current user and/or organization ofthe current user), and a map 608 with plotted points 610 indicatinglocations associated with each of the controller devices. In animplementation, each of the items of list 606 may indicate a combinationof controller devices that, e.g., may be part of a same industrialprocess, manufacturing line, etc. The list 606 indicates a currentstatus of each of the controller devices (e.g., “good”, “warning”,etc.), and an indication of an amount of time each controller device hasbeen running in its current configuration. Each controller device isindicated by a name associated with the controller devices as stored bythe management server 140 and/or the controller device(s) 150. The usermay select points 610 on the map 608, and/or items from the list 606, toaccess further details. In an implementation, the points 610 are coloredbased on a status of the associated controller device(s) 150.

FIG. 6B illustrates that the user may use a filter/search box 611 tofilter the controller device(s) 150. FIG. 6C illustrates the results ofthe user filtering to controller device(s) 150 tagged “cox”. As shown, afiltered list 620 is now shown, and associated points 622, 624, and 626are shown in the map (wherein the map has automatically been zoomedbased on the filtered controller devices).

FIG. 6D illustrates an interactive graphical user interface that may bedisplayed when the user selects to view details related to a specificcontroller device (or group of controller devices controller device 150(e.g., via selection of one of the listed items or plotted points ofFIGS. 6A-6C). The graphical user interface of FIG. 6D includes separateportions associated with each, e.g., additional device 180 providingdata to, and/or being controlled by, the selected controller device 150.Portion 634 shows an additional device 180 labeled MO1, including achart of data received from the additional device 180, and variouscalculated information related thereto. At 630 the user can select aparticular date range of interest, and may select how the dataassociated the additional device(s) 180 should be aggregated (e.g., day,week, month, etc.). At 632 the user may determine whether the displayeddata is live data, and may select to view live, constantly updated databeing received from the related controller device(s) 150.

In various implementations, additional device(s) 180 and controllerdevice(s) 150 may be partitioned or grouped in different ways, andaggregated data associated with these devices may be displayed andinteracted with by a user. The aggregated data may be partitioned orgrouped based on identifiers associated with the controller device(s)150 and additional device(s) 180, and/or they may be grouped based onconfigurations, locations, programs, industrial processes, etc.Accordingly, the user may rapidly obtain an overview of the status ofmany controller device(s) 150 (and associated additional device(s) 180)simultaneously. Further aggregated information that may be provided ininteractive graphical user interfaces of the management server 140 mayinclude various analytics.

Advantageously, the present devices and systems, according to variousembodiments, may be used to track and analyze data from various types ofindustrial processes and calculated various metrics (e.g., track flow,pressure, tank levels, power usage; calculate efficiencies; control oiland gas flows; determine machine heath, downtime, metrics, etc.).

FIG. 6E illustrates an example interactive graphical user interface thatincludes aggregated data related to a particular Manufacturing ExecutionSystem (“MES”). The information provided via the example graphical userinterface of FIG. 6A may be aggregated by the management server 140 fromone or more controller device(s) 150, and may include, for example, asummary chart 640 of items created of various types, information 642 and644 on line running hours, and information 646 on line utilization.

FIG. 6F illustrates an example interactive graphical user interface inwhich the user has drilled down to view specific runs on the MES, andcan view information 650 related to the various runs, and an interactivechart 652 and table 654 related to the same.

FIGS. 7A-7C illustrate example interactive graphical user interfacesrelated to controller device configuration, according to variousembodiments of the present disclosure. The interactive graphical userinterfaces of FIG. 7A-7C may be provided by the management server 140,and may be accessible via user device(s) 120.

Referring to FIG. 7A, as indicated at 702, the user may access a tableof various controller device(s) 150 available to monitor/configure. Thetable indicates names, IDs, types, currently deployed configurations(“programs”), dates, and durations related to each controller device.Via the graphical user interface, the user may select to access furtherdetails related to particular controller devices.

FIG. 7B illustrates an example interactive graphical user interfaceshowing details related to a particular controller device 150. Theinformation includes an indication 710 (and details related to,including a current automation script/program 712), a currently deployedconfiguration. The graphical user interface also includes, at 714, ahistory of previously deployed configurations, including a time-basedchart showing when and for what duration each configuration wasdeployed. Via button 716 the user may select to edit the particularconfiguration.

FIG. 7C illustrates an example interactive graphical user interface forediting a configuration. Editing a configuration may be accomplished,for example, by editing the configuration on the management server 140,and then subsequently deploying the configuration to the controllerdevice 150. Alternatively, editing a configuration may be accomplished,for example, by communicating with a web server on the controller device150 of interest, and accessing user interfaces provided by thecontroller device 150 to modify a configuration directly on thecontroller device 150.

List 720 provides information related to various revisions of thepresent configuration, which revision may easily be accessed, reviewed,and compared in the graphical user interface. Via editor 722 the usermay directly edit the program code associated with the configuration(e.g., via inputting/editing a script according to an automationscripting language interpretable by the controller device 150). Viabutton 724, the user may deploy the configuration to the controllerdevice 150.

FIGS. 8A-8D illustrate example interactive graphical user interfacesrelated to dashboard generation, according to various embodiments of thepresent disclosure. The interactive graphical user interfaces of FIG.8A-8D may be provided by the management server 140, and may beaccessible via user device(s) 120.

Referring to FIG. 8A, the user may access and view various “dashboards”via list 802, which dashboards can include any aggregated data from oneor more controller device(s) 150 and/or additional device(s) 180. Anexample “Dashboard 4” is shown, which includes a chart 806. At 808 theuser can select a particular date range of interest, and may select howthe data associated the controller device(s) 150 and/or additionaldevice(s) 180 should be aggregated (e.g., day, week, month, etc.) fordisplay in the dashboard. At 810 the user may determine whether thedisplayed data is live data, and may select to view live, constantlyupdated data being received from the related controller device(s) 150and/or additional device(s) 180.

Via button 804, the user may add a new dashboard, which may be freelyand interactively customized by the user. Referring to FIG. 8B, aninteractive user interface 820 is shown by which the user may set up andcustomize a dashboard. The user may interactively drag and drop thevarious icons representing various types of widgets (e.g., charts,graphs, indicators, maps, text, etc.) onto the canvas below to add thewidgets to the dashboard. FIG. 8C illustrates adding a time-series linegraph widget to the dashboard. When added, the user can customize thewidget via dialog box 822, by, e.g., providing a name, and linking thewidget to a particular data input. The listed data inputs are determinedbased on inputs provided from the various controller device(s) 150registered with the management server 140. Accordingly, the user mayeasily develop a dashboard with information obtained directly fromvarious controller device(s) 150, and thereby additional device(s) 180.

FIG. 8D illustrates an example dashboard after the user has added atime-series line graph widget 830, and an on/off indicator widget 832,and linked the widgets to particular inputs/outputs/determinations ofone or more controller device(s) 150. The user may then save thedashboard and access it at any time to review live and/or historicalaggregated data.

According to an embodiment, the management server 140 may includedashboard and/or widget templates associated with particular types ofadditional device(s) 180 (and/or controller device(s) 150). For example,particular types of monitors or sensors (e.g., an energy/power sensor,an asset health monitor, and environmental sensor, etc.) may bepreregistered with the management server 140 and associated withparticular dashboard templates, such that when a monitor/sensor is incommunication with the management server 140 (e.g., via a controllerdevice 150), the management server 140 automatically provides adashboard that is based on the template and populated with data receivedfrom the monitor/sensor.

According to various embodiments, the dashboards (including dashboardaccess and creation) described above, may be implemented on thecontroller device 150 itself, such that interactive graphical userinterfaces similar to those described above may be accessible directlyvia communication with a controller device 150 (e.g., a user device 120or human machine interface device 170 accessing the controller device150 via a web server modules 336).

According to various embodiments, the dashboards can automaticallyresize and adjust for viewing on various sizes of displays.

According to various embodiments, the user may interact with interactivegraphical user interfaces similar to those described above to generateHMIs that can be pushed/deployed to human machine interface device(s)170.

FIGS. 9A-9C illustrate example interactive graphical user interfacesrelated to alert generation, according to various embodiments of thepresent disclosure. The interactive graphical user interfaces of FIG.9A-9C may be provided by the management server 140, and may beaccessible via user device(s) 120.

Referring to FIG. 9A, via interactive graphical user interface 902 theuser may set up one or more alerts on the management server 140. Theuser may initially select a type of alert to set up as shown ingraphical user interface 902. In the graphical user interface 904 ofFIG. 9B, the user may specify various parameters related to the alert.For example, the user may indicate an input or determined measurement(e.g., as determined by the management server 140 and/or one or morecontroller device(s) 150) upon which to base the alert, and one or morealert recipients or actions to take upon triggering of the alert. In theexample of FIG. 9B, the alert is based on a “tank level” as received viadata from a controller device 150.

FIG. 9C illustrates an interactive graphical user interface including alisting of alerts 906 that have been set up, and which the user canselect, e.g., to then modify the alerts.

FIGS. 10A-10C illustrate example interactive graphical user interfacesrelated to controller device configuration, according to variousembodiments of the present disclosure. The interactive graphical userinterfaces of FIG. 10A-10C may be provided by the management server 140,and may be accessible via user device(s) 120.

Referring to FIG. 10A, the user may use the graphical user interface1002 to setup and/or edit various setting and properties related to aparticular controller device 150. Such settings may include setting aname, selecting a firmware version, and the like. Referring to FIG. 10B,the user may configure the various communications interface(s) 324 ofthe particular controller device 150, including the variouscommunications specifications of the various ports. Via graphical userinterface 1016, the user may select each individual input and outputport, and may set all relevant settings and properties. Referring toFIG. 10C, the user may configure the communications specificationsrelated to a particular input. Communications specifications specifiedby the user via FIGS. 10A-10C advantageously enable, according tovarious embodiments, centralized setting up a configuration, whichconfiguration may then be deployed to one or more controller devices 150via the management server 140. According to an embodiment, the user may“mass export” and “mass import” configuration specifications for adevice, e.g., that specify the settings for all inputs and outputs atone time.

In an embodiment, interactive graphical user interfaces may be providedby the management server 140 for setting up “recipes”, which may includea set of configurations for multiple controller devices 150. By settingup a recipe, the user may advantageously simultaneously initiatedeployment of selected configurations to many different controllerdevices 150. Such may be useful, for example, for configuring multipleparts of a production line to begin production of a particular type ofwidget.

XI. Example Operation Control System Using HMI Devices

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating example methods 1100 of configuringcontroller device operation via a human machine interface device,according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. FIG. 11illustrates example functionality provided by, for example, thecontroller device(s) 150. The flowchart illustrates the method 1100 fromthe perspective of several controller devices connected to an industrialcontrol system network. The industrial control system network maycontain HMI devices, and various other devices specific to anorganization as well as third-party devices.

At block 1102, a first controller device may detect an HMI device andother controller devices connected to the network. The first controllerdevice may be equipped with network discovery capabilities and, as such,may detect other devices, including other controller devices, connectedto the network. The first controller device may receive from the networkdevices unique identification codes associated with the other controllerdevices, such as, but not limited to, IP addresses. The first controllerdevice may further receive from the devices device keys that indicatewhether the devices belong in the same organization as the firstcontroller device. The first controller device may then store the uniqueidentification codes locally in one or more computer readable storagemediums 330, and/or transfer the information to a devices database 254in a management device 230. In some embodiments, the first controllerdevice may only store the unique identification codes for devicesidentified as belonging to the same organization as the first controllerdevice.

At decision block 1104, the first controller device may determinewhether the detected HMI device has a stored association with another,second controller device. The controller device may make thisdetermination by accessing a whitelist of IP addresses (or other uniquedevice identifiers) associated with HMI devices which have previouslyconnected to the network. The whitelist may also include associationdata indicating to which controller device the HMI device connectedpreviously. The whitelist may be stored in the computer readable storagemedium(s) 330 and/or the devices database 254. In some embodiments, thefirst controller device may communicate with other controller devices ormanagement devices 230 on the network to obtain the whitelistinformation. Further description related to generation and propagationof the whitelist across the network is described below, at blocks 1122and 1124. If the HMI device has a stored association with a secondcontroller device, the first controller device may cause the HMI deviceto connect to the second controller device. The method 1100 may thenproceed to block 1106. If the HMI device does not have a storedassociation with another controller device, the first controller devicemay connect to the HMI device. The method 1100 may then proceed to block1110.

At block 1106, the first controller device may store in one or morecomputer readable storage mediums 330 the association data between theHMI device and the second controller device, if the association data wasnot previously stored locally on the first controller device. Storingthe association data locally on the controller device may improve futureconnection speed and efficiency if the HMI device disconnects from thenetwork and later reconnects. If the HMI device connects to the firstcontroller device again upon reconnection to the network, the firstcontroller device can connect the HMI device to the second controllerdevice without requesting whitelist data from other controller devicesor management devices 230. At block 1108, the first controller devicemay connect the HMI device to the second controller device, or cause theHMI device to connect to the second controller device. Once re-connectedto the HMI device, the second controller device may then receive userinputs for operation updates. Further description related to updatingcontroller operation according to user input is described below, atblocks 1128 and 1130.

At block 1110, the first controller device may connect to the HMIdevice.

At block 1112, the first controller device may generate a graphical userinterface depicting the first controller device's operation controlpanel. Further description related to generation of the controllerdevice operation control panel interface is described below, inreference to FIG. 14. At block 1114, the first controller device maygenerate a graphical user interface depicting the connected controllerdevice's network discovery list. Further description related togeneration of the controller device network discovery list interface isdescribed below, in reference to FIG. 13.

At block 1116, the first controller device may provide one or more ofthe generated interactive graphical user interfaces to the HMI devicevia a web server. The interactive graphical user interfaces may include,for example, the first controller device's network discovery list or thefirst controller device's operation control panel. In some embodiments,the user of the HMI device may be able to toggle and/or navigate amongvarious graphical user interfaces provided by the controller device. Thegraphical user interfaces may be displayed in a web browser executing onthe HMI device.

At decision block 1118, the first controller device may receive userinput with instructions to connect the HMI device to another, secondcontroller device. The first controller device may receive the userinput via the HMI device. If the first controller device does notreceive instructions to connect the HMI device to a second controllerdevice, the first controller may maintain the connection to the HMIdevice, display its operation control panel, and receive user inputs foroperation updates, for example. Further description related to updatingcontroller operation according to user input is described below, atblocks 1128 and 1130. In some embodiments, the first controller devicemay also store the association data between the HMI device and the firstcontroller device, as described in block 1106. In some embodiments, thefirst controller device may also communicate the association data toother controller devices or management devices 230 on the network toshare the whitelist information. Further description related togeneration and propagation of the whitelist across the network isdescribed below, at blocks 1122 and 1124. The method may then proceed toblock 1128. If the first controller device receives instructions toconnect the HMI device to a second controller device, the firstcontroller device may collect user input specifying the secondcontroller device to which the HMI device should connect. The method maythen proceed to block 1120.

It should be noted that the second controller device described in block1120 need not be the same device as the second controller devicedescribed in block 1108. The term, as used herein, is merely inreference to a controller device which may connect to the HMI device,and which is not the first controller device.

At block 1120, the first controller device may receive user input, viathe HMI device, specifying the second controller device to which the HMIdevice should connect. The user may select the second controller devicefrom the network discovery list generated at block 1114. For example,the user may select the second controller device by touching a graphicon the network discovery list interface or using a cursor to click onthe graphic. Further description related to an interactive graphicaluser interface for a controller device network discovery list isdescribed below, in reference to FIG. 13.

At block 1122, the first controller device may store association datawhich indicates a connection between the HMI device and the secondcontroller device. The first controller device may store the associationdata locally in one or more computer readable storage mediums 330,and/or transfer the information to a devices database 254 in amanagement device 230. The first controller device may also prompt thesecond controller device to store the association data. The associationdata may include identifying information for the HMI device, such as,but not limited to, a device serial number or IP address. Theassociation data and HMI device identifying information may be added toa whitelist for more efficient network re-connection, as described atblock 1104.

At block 1124, the first controller device may propagate the associationdata to at least one other industrial controller device on the network.In some embodiments, the association data may be propagated directly toindividual controller devices, where each controller device may storethe association data locally in one or more computer readable storagemediums 330. In some embodiments, the association data may becommunicated to a devices database 254 in a management device 230 andeach controller device connected to the network may access the devicesdatabase 254. In some embodiments, the first controller device maypropagate the association data in both manners.

At block 1126, the first controller device may connect the HMI device tothe second controller device, and/or cause the HMI device to connect tothe second controller device, as specified by the user.

At block 1128, the controller device connected to the HMI device mayreceive user input, via the HMI device, updating operation of theconnected controller device. The user may select a command from theoperation control panel generated at block 1112. The user may select thesecond controller device by touching the graphic on the interface orusing a cursor to click on the graphic. Further description related toan interactive graphical user interface for a controller deviceoperation control panel is described below, in reference to FIG. 14. Atblock 1130, upon receipt of the user input, the controller device mayupdate its operation according to the user input.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating example methods 1200 of connectingan HMI device to a controller device, according to various embodimentsof the present disclosure. FIG. 12 illustrates example functionalityprovided by, for example, the human machine interface device(s) 170. Theflowchart illustrates the example method 1200 from the perspective of anHMI device accessing an industrial control system network.

At block 1202, the HMI device may run a pre-loaded web browserapplication configured specifically to connect to and control devices onthe industrial control system network. In some embodiments, the webbrowser application may only display graphical user interfaces for anindustrial controller device network discovery list or a controllerdevice operation control panel. In some embodiments, the web browserapplication may include all the functions of a typical web browser butmay be configured to automatically connect to the industrial controlsystem and display a control system graphical user interface uponstart-up.

At block 1204, the HMI device may detect other devices connected to thenetwork. The network detection feature may be a feature of the HMIdevice, or the network detection feature may be a feature programmedinto the web browser application. In some embodiments, the HMI devicemay only detect devices that belong to the same organization. The HMIdevice may identify devices belonging to the same organization throughdevice keys, serial numbers, or other identifier data which indicatesthat a device belongs to an organization.

At block 1206, the HMI device may, from the list of detected devices,identify an industrial controller device in the organization. The HMIdevice may identify the controller device through a device key, serialnumber, or other identifier data which indicates that a device is anindustrial controller device. At block 1208, the HMI device may connectto the detected industrial controller device. In some embodiments, theHMI device may connect to the first controller device detected. In otherembodiments, the HMI device may simultaneously identify severalcontroller devices and may connect to a randomly selected controllerdevice. In other embodiments, the HMI device may connect to one of aplurality of detected controller devices based on various criteria, suchas, for example, based on an ordering of IP address and/or uniqueidentifiers associated with the controller devices, based on keys,names, or other identifiers associated with the controller devices,and/or the like.

At block 1210, the HMI device may render an interactive graphical userinterface for an operation control panel for the connected controllerdevice. Further description related to generation of the controllerdevice operation control panel interface is described below, inreference to FIG. 14. A user of the HMI device may, via the graphicaluser interface, update operations for the controller device. At block1212, the HMI device may render an interactive graphical user interfacefor a network discovery list for the connected controller device.Further description related to generation of the controller devicenetwork discovery list interface is described below, in reference toFIG. 13. A user of the HMI device may, via the graphical user interface,update view other network devices and connect the HMI to another networkdevice.

At block 1214, the HMI device may connect to another industrialcontroller device according to user input. A user may select, via thenetwork discovery list, a network device to which the HMI device mayconnect. Upon connection to the other controller device, the HMI devicemay render graphical user interfaces generated by the other controllerdevice.

It should be understood that the methods described in FIGS. 11 and 12are merely illustrative of the HMI device connection and controllerdevice operation control processes, and are not indicative of scale forthe methods. The foregoing methods may be scalable, and thus, includemore than the example single HMI device and two controller devices shownin the figures. The foregoing methods may be performed on an industrialcontrol system network containing any number of HMI devices andcontroller devices. Each network device may communicate with any otherdevice on the network to achieve the tasks described above (e.g.,propagating device associations, transmitting operation controlcommands, displaying network discovery lists, etc.). Each network devicemay further communicate live status updates and/or actions with otherdevices on the network such that all network devices contain uniformdata regarding the network and associated devices.

FIGS. 13-14 illustrate example interactive graphical user interfacesrelated to network discovery and network device control, according tovarious embodiments of the present disclosure. The interactive graphicaluser interfaces of FIGS. 13-14 may be provided by a controller deviceexecuting a web server, as described herein, and may be accessible viaHMI device(s) 170. The interactive graphical user interfaces may betransmitted to HMI devices via a web server of the controller device(s)150, and may be rendered via a web browser on an HMI device, forexample. In various embodiments, the interactive graphical userinterfaces may be relatively streamlined. For example, the graphicaluser interfaces may comprise relatively few large buttons. In general,network discovery data and network device data are automaticallygathered from multiple controller devices 150 and transmitted to the HMIdevice as described. Typically, the graphical user interfaces providedare specific to an organization, a production line, a manufacturingfacility, and/or the like, and may include information from multiplecontroller devices 150.

FIG. 13 illustrates an example interactive graphical user interfacerelated to network discovery, according to various embodiments of thepresent disclosure. The network discovery list 1300 may be configured toonly list devices that are associated with the organization. Thecontroller device may determine whether a device is associated with theorganization via an identification code (e.g. a device key, serialnumber, etc.) unique to devices associated with the organization. Thenetwork discovery list 1300 may be designed for simplicity, and as such,may only list key identification information so users may easilyrecognize the device on the list and may use large and intuitivegraphics. In some embodiments, the network discovery list 1300 maydisplay detected network devices on one web browser page, such that theuser may scroll down the page to see more devices. In other embodiments,the network discovery list 1300 may display detected network devicesacross several web browser pages, such that the user may view moredevices by selecting a button on each web browser page, which may causethe graphical user interface to render other pages with more networkdevices.

Continuing with FIG. 13, the network discovery list 1300 may depict eachnetwork device with a graphic 1302/1310/1312, a device name 1304, an IPaddress 1306, and/or a serial number 1308. In some embodiments, thegraphic 1302/1310/1312 may be a pre-loaded image that resembles thedevice hardware. The same pre-loaded image may be used for all networkdevices of a given type. The controller device may determine the type ofa network device via a unique identification code (e.g. a device key,serial number, etc.) associated with each device. If no graphics arepre-loaded for a type of device, the network discovery list 1300 mayshow a blank space, an icon that indicates the device is of anunrecognized type, and/or a device icon that indicates a computingdevice without specificity. In some embodiments, the network discoverylist 1300 may how network devices that are not associated with theorganization. In such cases, a general device icon may be used tosignify a non-organization computing device. The device name 1304 may bea descriptive name (as opposed to a technical identifier, such as an IPaddress) for easier identification by a user. The device serial number1308 may be any length and may include any combination of characters,numbers, and/or symbols. It should be understood that FIG. 13 is merelyan illustrative example and that the network discovery list 1300 maylist a different combination of identification information, omittingsome elements depicted in the illustration and/or including otherelements not depicted in the illustration. The network discovery list1300 may be displayed in any web browser.

Upon receipt of user instruction to connect to another device, thecontroller device may connect the HMI device to the selected device,and/or the HMI device may then connect to the selected device. The usermay select a device by touching the graphic on the interface or using acursor to click on the button. Once the HMI device connects to theselected device, the new controller device may generate and transmit fordisplay an interactive graphical user interface for its networkdiscovery list or operation control panel.

FIG. 14 illustrates an example interactive graphical user interfacerelated to operation control of controller devices, according to variousembodiments of the present disclosure. The operation control panel 1400may be displayed on the HMI device via a web browser. The operationcontrol panel 1400 may be designed for simplicity and intuitiveness, andas such, may be free from most or all non-essential elements. Theoperation control panel 1400 may display the device name 1402 of thecontroller device being controlled. The device name 1402 may be adescriptive name (as opposed to a technical identifier, such as an IPaddress) for easier identification by a user. The operation controlpanel 1400 may have a start button 1404, stop button 1406, and/or aswitch process button 1408. The controller device may receive a commandfrom the HMI device corresponding to the button that the user selects.The user may select a button by touching the graphic on the interface orusing a cursor to click on the button. In some embodiments, each buttonmay change the functioning of the controller device without furtheraction. In some embodiments, each button may open a new web browserpage, call a pop-up window, or otherwise trigger a graphical userinterface change which prompts for confirmation or further details aboutthe user's selection. The device name 1402 and the buttons may all be indisplayed in large font, located in prominent locations on the graphicaluser interface, or otherwise be easily and quickly seen and understood.In some embodiments, the operation control panel 1400 may include abutton to display the controller device's network discovery list 1300,where users may view and connect to other network devices belonging inthe same organization. The operation control panel 1400 may be displayedin any web browser.

XII. Additional Implementation Details and Embodiments

Various embodiments of the present disclosure may be a system, a method,and/or a computer program product at any possible technical detail levelof integration. The computer program product may include a computerreadable storage medium (or mediums) having computer readable programinstructions thereon for causing a processor to carry out aspects of thepresent disclosure.

For example, the functionality described herein may be performed assoftware instructions are executed by, and/or in response to softwareinstructions being executed by, one or more hardware processors and/orany other suitable computing devices. The software instructions and/orother executable code may be read from a computer readable storagemedium (or mediums).

The computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that canretain and store data and/or instructions for use by an instructionexecution device. The computer readable storage medium may be, forexample, but is not limited to, an electronic storage device (includingany volatile and/or non-volatile electronic storage devices), a magneticstorage device, an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storagedevice, a semiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination ofthe foregoing. A non-exhaustive list of more specific examples of thecomputer readable storage medium includes the following: a portablecomputer diskette, a hard disk, a solid state drive, a random accessmemory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmableread-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), a static random access memory(SRAM), a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digitalversatile disk (DVD), a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanicallyencoded device such as punch-cards or raised structures in a groovehaving instructions recorded thereon, and any suitable combination ofthe foregoing. A computer readable storage medium, as used herein, isnot to be construed as being transitory signals per se, such as radiowaves or other freely propagating electromagnetic waves, electromagneticwaves propagating through a waveguide or other transmission media (e.g.,light pulses passing through a fiber-optic cable), or electrical signalstransmitted through a wire.

Computer readable program instructions described herein can bedownloaded to respective computing/processing devices from a computerreadable storage medium or to an external computer or external storagedevice via a network, for example, the Internet, a local area network, awide area network and/or a wireless network. The network may comprisecopper transmission cables, optical transmission fibers, wirelesstransmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers, and/oredge servers. A network adapter card or network interface in eachcomputing/processing device receives computer readable programinstructions from the network and forwards the computer readable programinstructions for storage in a computer readable storage medium withinthe respective computing/processing device.

Computer readable program instructions (as also referred to herein as,for example, “code,” “instructions,” “module,” “application,” “softwareapplication,” and/or the like) for carrying out operations of thepresent disclosure may be assembler instructions,instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions,machine dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions,state-setting data, configuration data for integrated circuitry, oreither source code or object code written in any combination of one ormore programming languages, including an object oriented programminglanguage such as Java, C++, or the like, and procedural programminglanguages, such as the “C” programming language or similar programminglanguages. Computer readable program instructions may be callable fromother instructions or from itself, and/or may be invoked in response todetected events or interrupts. Computer readable program instructionsconfigured for execution on computing devices may be provided on acomputer readable storage medium, and/or as a digital download (and maybe originally stored in a compressed or installable format that requiresinstallation, decompression or decryption prior to execution) that maythen be stored on a computer readable storage medium. Such computerreadable program instructions may be stored, partially or fully, on amemory device (e.g., a computer readable storage medium) of theexecuting computing device, for execution by the computing device. Thecomputer readable program instructions may execute entirely on a user'scomputer (e.g., the executing computing device), partly on the user'scomputer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user'scomputer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remotecomputer or server. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may beconnected to the user's computer through any type of network, includinga local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or theconnection may be made to an external computer (for example, through theInternet using an Internet Service Provider). In some embodiments,electronic circuitry including, for example, programmable logiccircuitry, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA), or programmable logicarrays (PLA) may execute the computer readable program instructions byutilizing state information of the computer readable programinstructions to personalize the electronic circuitry, in order toperform aspects of the present disclosure.

Aspects of the present disclosure are described herein with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of thedisclosure. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer readable program instructions.

These computer readable program instructions may be provided to aprocessor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, orother programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, suchthat the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computeror other programmable data processing apparatus, create means forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks. These computer readable program instructionsmay also be stored in a computer readable storage medium that can directa computer, a programmable data processing apparatus, and/or otherdevices to function in a particular manner, such that the computerreadable storage medium having instructions stored therein comprises anarticle of manufacture including instructions which implement aspects ofthe function/act specified in the flowchart(s) and/or block diagram(s)block or blocks.

The computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto acomputer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other deviceto cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer,other programmable apparatus or other device to produce a computerimplemented process, such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer, other programmable apparatus, or other device implement thefunctions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block orblocks. For example, the instructions may initially be carried on amagnetic disk or solid state drive of a remote computer. The remotecomputer may load the instructions and/or modules into its dynamicmemory and send the instructions over a telephone, cable, or opticalline using a modem. A modem local to a server computing system mayreceive the data on the telephone/cable/optical line and use a converterdevice including the appropriate circuitry to place the data on a bus.The bus may carry the data to a memory, from which a processor mayretrieve and execute the instructions. The instructions received by thememory may optionally be stored on a storage device (e.g., a solid statedrive) either before or after execution by the computer processor.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods, and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present disclosure. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof instructions, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). In some alternativeimplementations, the functions noted in the blocks may occur out of theorder noted in the Figures. For example, two blocks shown in successionmay, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks maysometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon thefunctionality involved. In addition, certain blocks may be omitted insome implementations. The methods and processes described herein arealso not limited to any particular sequence, and the blocks or statesrelating thereto can be performed in other sequences that areappropriate.

It will also be noted that each block of the block diagrams and/orflowchart illustration, and combinations of blocks in the block diagramsand/or flowchart illustration, can be implemented by special purposehardware-based systems that perform the specified functions or acts orcarry out combinations of special purpose hardware and computerinstructions. For example, any of the processes, methods, algorithms,elements, blocks, applications, or other functionality (or portions offunctionality) described in the preceding sections may be embodied in,and/or fully or partially automated via, electronic hardware suchapplication-specific processors (e.g., application-specific integratedcircuits (ASICs)), programmable processors (e.g., field programmablegate arrays (FPGAs)), application-specific circuitry, and/or the like(any of which may also combine custom hard-wired logic, logic circuits,ASICs, FPGAs, etc. with custom programming/execution of softwareinstructions to accomplish the techniques).

Any of the above-mentioned processors, and/or devices incorporating anyof the above-mentioned processors, may be referred to herein as, forexample, “computers,” “computer devices,” “computing devices,” “hardwarecomputing devices,” “hardware processors,” “processing units,” and/orthe like. Computing devices of the above-embodiments may generally (butnot necessarily) be controlled and/or coordinated by operating systemsoftware, such as Mac OS, iOS, Android, Chrome OS, Windows OS (e.g.,Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10, WindowsServer, etc.), Windows CE, Unix, Linux, SunOS, Solaris, Blackberry OS,VxWorks, or other suitable operating systems. In other embodiments, thecomputing devices may be controlled by a proprietary operating system.Conventional operating systems control and schedule computer processesfor execution, perform memory management, provide file system,networking, I/O services, and provide a user interface functionality,such as a graphical user interface (“GUI”), among other things.

As described above, in various embodiments certain functionality may beaccessible by a user through a web-based viewer (such as a web browser),or other suitable software program. In such implementations, the userinterface may be generated by a server computing system and transmittedto a web browser of the user (e.g., running on the user's computingsystem). Alternatively, data (e.g., user interface data) necessary forgenerating the user interface may be provided by the server computingsystem to the browser, where the user interface may be generated (e.g.,the user interface data may be executed by a browser accessing a webservice and may be configured to render the user interfaces based on theuser interface data). The user may then interact with the user interfacethrough the web-browser. User interfaces of certain implementations maybe accessible through one or more dedicated software applications. Incertain embodiments, one or more of the computing devices and/or systemsof the disclosure may include mobile computing devices, and userinterfaces may be accessible through such mobile computing devices (forexample, smartphones and/or tablets).

Many variations and modifications may be made to the above-describedembodiments, the elements of which are to be understood as being amongother acceptable examples. All such modifications and variations areintended to be included herein within the scope of this disclosure. Theforegoing description details certain embodiments. It will beappreciated, however, that no matter how detailed the foregoing appearsin text, the systems and methods can be practiced in many ways. As isalso stated above, it should be noted that the use of particularterminology when describing certain features or aspects of the systemsand methods should not be taken to imply that the terminology is beingre-defined herein to be restricted to including any specificcharacteristics of the features or aspects of the systems and methodswith which that terminology is associated.

Conditional language, such as, among others, “can,” “could,” “might,” or“may,” unless specifically stated otherwise, or otherwise understoodwithin the context as used, is generally intended to convey that certainembodiments include, while other embodiments do not include, certainfeatures, elements, and/or steps. Thus, such conditional language is notgenerally intended to imply that features, elements and/or steps are inany way required for one or more embodiments or that one or moreembodiments necessarily include logic for deciding, with or without userinput or prompting, whether these features, elements and/or steps areincluded or are to be performed in any particular embodiment.

The term “substantially” when used in conjunction with the term“real-time” forms a phrase that will be readily understood by a personof ordinary skill in the art. For example, it is readily understood thatsuch language will include speeds in which no or little delay or waitingis discernible, or where such delay is sufficiently short so as not tobe disruptive, irritating, or otherwise vexing to a user.

Conjunctive language such as the phrase “at least one of X, Y, and Z,”or “at least one of X, Y, or Z,” unless specifically stated otherwise,is to be understood with the context as used in general to convey thatan item, term, etc. may be either X, Y, or Z, or a combination thereof.For example, the term “or” is used in its inclusive sense (and not inits exclusive sense) so that when used, for example, to connect a listof elements, the term “or” means one, some, or all of the elements inthe list. Thus, such conjunctive language is not generally intended toimply that certain embodiments require at least one of X, at least oneof Y, and at least one of Z to each be present.

The term “a” as used herein should be given an inclusive rather thanexclusive interpretation. For example, unless specifically noted, theterm “a” should not be understood to mean “exactly one” or “one and onlyone”; instead, the term “a” means “one or more” or “at least one,”whether used in the claims or elsewhere in the specification andregardless of uses of quantifiers such as “at least one,” “one or more,”or “a plurality” elsewhere in the claims or specification.

The term “comprising” as used herein should be given an inclusive ratherthan exclusive interpretation. For example, a general purpose computercomprising one or more processors should not be interpreted as excludingother computer components, and may possibly include such components asmemory, input/output devices, and/or network interfaces, among others.

While the above detailed description has shown, described, and pointedout novel features as applied to various embodiments, it may beunderstood that various omissions, substitutions, and changes in theform and details of the devices or processes illustrated may be madewithout departing from the spirit of the disclosure. As may berecognized, certain embodiments of the inventions described herein maybe embodied within a form that does not provide all of the features andbenefits set forth herein, as some features may be used or practicedseparately from others. The scope of certain inventions disclosed hereinis indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoingdescription. All changes which come within the meaning and range ofequivalency of the claims are to be embraced within their scope.

What is claimed is:
 1. An industrial controller device comprising: acomputer readable storage medium having program instructions embodiedtherewith; and one or more processors configured to execute the programinstructions to cause the industrial controller device to: execute anetwork discovery service configured to detect and identify otherindustrial controller devices on a network; execute, by the industrialcontroller device, a web server configured to generate one or moregraphical user interfaces, including at least: a first graphical userinterface including options for updates to operation of the industrialcontroller device, and a second graphical user interface includingindications of the other industrial controller devices on the network;and upon connection of a human machine interface (“HMI”) device to theindustrial controller device, provide to the HMI device, via the webserver executed by the industrial controller device, at least one of thefirst graphical user interface or the second graphical user interface.2. The industrial controller device of claim 1, wherein the one or moreprocessors are configured to execute the program instructions to furthercause the industrial controller device to: store an association betweenthe HMI device and the industrial controller device; and propagate, tothe other industrial controller devices on the network, the associationbetween the HMI device and the industrial controller device.
 3. Theindustrial controller device of claim 1, wherein the one or moreprocessors are configured to execute the program instructions to furthercause the industrial controller device to: receive, from anotherindustrial controller device on the network, an association between theHMI device and a second industrial controller device of the otherindustrial controller devices on the network; store the associationbetween the HMI device and the second industrial controller device; andupon re-connection of the HMI device to the industrial controllerdevice, cause the HMI device to connect to the second industrialcontroller device.
 4. The industrial controller device of claim 1,wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute the programinstructions to further cause the industrial controller device to: inresponse to a user selection, via the second graphical user interface,of a second industrial controller device, of the other industrialcontroller devices on the network, cause the HMI device to connect tothe second industrial controller device.
 5. The industrial controllerdevice of claim 1, wherein the HMI device is configured with a webbrowser and a network discovery service, and wherein the HMI device isconfigured to, upon connection of the HMI device to the network:automatically detect any industrial controller devices on the network;automatically connect to a randomly selected one of the detectedindustrial controller devices; and via the web browser, render agraphical user interface provided by a web server of the randomlyselected one of the detected industrial controller devices.
 6. Theindustrial controller device of claim 1, wherein the second graphicaluser interface includes at least one of: indications of types of theother industrial controller devices, or indications of names of theother industrial controller devices.
 7. The industrial controller deviceof claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured to executethe program instructions to further cause the industrial controllerdevice to: receive, via the first graphical user interface and the webserver, a user input to update operation of the industrial controllerdevice; and update operation of the industrial controller device inresponse to receiving the user input.
 8. A method of network discoveryfor industrial controller system configuration, the method comprising:as implemented by an industrial controller device configured withspecific program instructions, executing a network discovery serviceconfigured to detect and identify other industrial controller devices ona network; executing, by the industrial controller device, a web serverconfigured to generate one or more graphical user interfaces, includingat least: a first graphical user interface including options for updatesto operation of the industrial controller device, and a second graphicaluser interface including indications of the other industrial controllerdevices on the network; and upon connection of a human machine interface(“HMI”) device to the industrial controller device, providing to the HMIdevice, via the web server executed by the industrial controller device,at least one of the first graphical user interface or the secondgraphical user interface.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein theindustrial controller device is configured with specific programinstructions to further: store an association between the HMI device andthe industrial controller device; and propagate, to the other industrialcontroller devices on the network, the association between the HMIdevice and the industrial controller device.
 10. The method of claim 8,wherein the industrial controller device is configured with specificprogram instructions to further: receive, from another industrialcontroller device on the network, an association between the HMI deviceand a second industrial controller device of the other industrialcontroller devices on the network; store the association between the HMIdevice and the second industrial controller device; and uponre-connection of the HMI device to the industrial controller device,cause the HMI device to connect to the second industrial controllerdevice.
 11. The method of claim 8, wherein the industrial controllerdevice is configured with specific program instructions to further: inresponse to a user selection, via the second graphical user interface,of a second industrial controller device, of the other industrialcontroller devices on the network, cause the HMI device to connect tothe second industrial controller device.
 12. The method of claim 8,wherein the HMI device is configured with a web browser and a networkdiscovery service, and wherein the HMI device is configured to, uponconnection of the HMI device to the network: automatically detect anyindustrial controller devices on the network; automatically connect to arandomly selected one of the detected industrial controller devices; andvia the web browser, render a graphical user interface provided by a webserver of the randomly selected one of the detected industrialcontroller devices.
 13. The method of claim 8, wherein the secondgraphical user interface includes at least one of: indications of typesof the other industrial controller devices, or indications of names ofthe other industrial controller devices.
 14. The method of claim 8,wherein the industrial controller device is configured with specificprogram instructions to further: receive, via the first graphical userinterface and the web server, a user input to update operation of theindustrial controller device; and update operation of the industrialcontroller device in response to receiving the user input.